Analysts Set Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) Target Price at $11.88

Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.8750.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Novavax from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. 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. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on Novavax from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th.

Novavax Stock Performance

NVAX stock opened at $9.72 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 2.54. Novavax has a 12-month low of $5.01 and a 12-month high of $11.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.25.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.66) by $0.77. Novavax had a net margin of 39.19% and a negative return on equity of 673.17%. The firm had revenue of $136.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.51) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 66.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Novavax will post -1.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Novavax by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,961,000 after buying an additional 275,802 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,558,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,747,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Novavax by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,927 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position 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 worth $32,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,101,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,685 shares during the period. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.