Traders Purchase High Volume of Novavax Put Options (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 29,212 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 172% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,759 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on NVAX shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research cut Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after buying an additional 2,326,927 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Novavax by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,890,000 after buying an additional 1,405,981 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Novavax by 691.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,477,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,303 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Novavax in the 2nd quarter worth $8,004,000. Finally, Monaco Asset Management SAM grew its holdings in Novavax by 161.3% in the 4th quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 1,045,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 645,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NVAX stock opened at $9.21 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.93. Novavax has a 12-month low of $6.20 and a 12-month high of $11.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.06 and a beta of 2.46.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by $0.06. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 14.82% and a negative net margin of 59.87%.The company had revenue of $56.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. Novavax’s quarterly revenue was down 76.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Novavax will post -0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novavax Company Profile

Novavax, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that specializes in the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases. Founded in 1987, the company has built a platform based on recombinant nanoparticle technology and its proprietary Matrix-M™ adjuvant to enhance immune responses.

The company’s lead product is NVX-CoV2373, a protein-based vaccine designed to elicit a robust immune response against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.