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

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on NVAX. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.00.

Novavax Stock Performance

Shares of Novavax stock opened at $7.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of -12.78 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.99. Novavax has a one year low of $6.20 and a one year high of $11.97.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.19. Novavax had a negative net margin of 14.73% and a negative return on equity of 14.82%. The business had revenue of $118.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.81 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 79.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Novavax will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 95.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 44,427 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 21,663 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Novavax by 2.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 104,562 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in Novavax in the first quarter valued at $158,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Novavax by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,789 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 44,105 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Novavax during the 1st quarter valued at about $167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

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.