BioNTech Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:BNTX)

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 8,783 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 478% compared to the typical volume of 1,519 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioNTech

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in shares of BioNTech in the 2nd quarter valued at $207,142,000. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab boosted its position in BioNTech by 10.9% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 8,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 816 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in BioNTech during the second quarter valued at about $39,385,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of BioNTech by 22.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 903,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,261,000 after buying an additional 166,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of BioNTech by 24.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 129,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,511,000 after buying an additional 25,506 shares during the last quarter. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BioNTech Price Performance

Shares of BNTX traded up $19.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $112.26. The stock had a trading volume of 6,005,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,052,603. The company has a current ratio of 7.85, a quick ratio of 7.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $28.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.29 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $91.94 and its 200 day moving average is $95.69. BioNTech has a 12-month low of $79.52 and a 12-month high of $124.00.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($2.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.40) by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $166.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.18 million. BioNTech had a negative net margin of 63.54% and a negative return on equity of 6.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 59.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.60) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that BioNTech will post -6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BioNTech declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BNTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BioNTech from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group raised BioNTech from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $117.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Berenberg Bank lowered their price target on shares of BioNTech from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BioNTech currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.81.

BioNTech Company Profile

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) is a Germany-based biotechnology company that develops next-generation immunotherapies and vaccines, with a primary focus on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Mainz, BioNTech advances a platform approach to design and manufacture therapeutics across oncology, infectious diseases and other high unmet-need areas. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange and became widely known for its rapid development and global deployment of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer.

BioNTech’s core activities include discovery research, clinical development and manufacturing of mRNA-based medicines, personalized cancer immunotherapies, engineered cell therapies, and antibody- and protein-based therapeutics.