Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Price Down 5.4% – Here’s What Happened

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)’s share price fell 5.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $7.58 and last traded at $7.5850. 2,011,079 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 5,114,001 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NVAX. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, March 12th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Novavax from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Novavax from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.88.

Novavax Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 2.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.34 and its 200-day moving average is $8.28.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.66) by $0.77. The business had revenue of $136.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.26 million. Novavax had a net margin of 39.19% and a negative return on equity of 673.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 66.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.51) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Novavax during the fourth quarter valued at about $394,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,380 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 29,704 shares during the period. VARCOV Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax during the fourth quarter worth about $263,000. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Novavax by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 104,019 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 41,866 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in Novavax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

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.