Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Novavax in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Novavax in a report on Friday, October 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Novavax from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Novavax has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.25.

Novavax Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NVAX opened at $8.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 2.58. Novavax has a fifty-two week low of $5.01 and a fifty-two week high of $10.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $7.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.83.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $70.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.63 million. Novavax had a net margin of 32.10% and a negative return on equity of 217.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.76) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Novavax will post -1.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in Novavax by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 106,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 161.7% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 89,182 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 55,110 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,981 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Novavax by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,961,000 after acquiring an additional 275,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 113,623 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 6,034 shares in the last quarter. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Novavax

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.