BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $96.73, but opened at $102.01. BioNTech shares last traded at $98.2810, with a volume of 280,604 shares traded.

More BioNTech News

Here are the key news stories impacting BioNTech this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BioNTech and partner OncoC4 reported that investigational drug gotistobart nearly doubled median overall survival versus standard chemotherapy in previously treated patients with squamous non-small-cell lung cancer. The results came from the Phase 3 PRESERVE-003 trial and strengthen the case for BioNTech’s strategy to diversify beyond COVID-19 vaccines. BioNTech and OncoC4 gotistobart trial data
• Positive Sentiment: The strength of the survival data led to reports that BNTX shares increased approximately 6.4% in recent trading. Investors appear to view gotistobart, also known as BNT316 or ONC-392, as a potentially important oncology asset that could support future growth if regulatory and commercial milestones are achieved. Reuters report on BioNTech lung-cancer drug
• Neutral Sentiment: Gotistobart is an investigational CTLA-4-targeting immunotherapy designed to reduce regulatory T cells within tumors and restore antitumor immune activity. While the clinical results are encouraging, the drug remains subject to additional regulatory review and further development before it can produce commercial revenue. Gotistobart overall-survival report
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Ugur Sahin sold 45,000 shares for about $4.36 million on September 11 and another 41,000 shares for approximately $4.08 million on September 14. The combined 86,000-share sale reduced his direct holdings by roughly 13%; however, both transactions were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which reduces their significance as a discretionary bearish signal. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNTX has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of BioNTech from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BioNTech in a report on Monday, June 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on BioNTech from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioNTech in a report on Monday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BioNTech currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.00.

BioNTech Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $24.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.35 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $97.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 7.80 and a current ratio of 7.85.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($2.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.40) by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $122.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.18 million. BioNTech had a negative return on equity of 6.86% and a negative net margin of 63.54%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 59.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.60) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR will post -6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ugur Sahin sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.85, for a total value of $4,628,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,638,545.65. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 256,000 shares of company stock valued at $25,493,265. Corporate insiders own 19.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BioNTech

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BNTX. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new position in BioNTech during the 2nd quarter worth about $207,142,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in BioNTech by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,578,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,235,000 after acquiring an additional 474,796 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of BioNTech by 116.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 839,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,658,000 after acquiring an additional 451,124 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of BioNTech in the second quarter worth about $39,385,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of BioNTech during the first quarter worth approximately $17,804,000. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BioNTech Company Profile

BioNTech SE is a biotechnology company focused on developing immunotherapies and vaccines for cancer and other serious diseases. Its research platforms include messenger RNA, cell therapies, protein-based therapeutics, antibody therapies and small-molecule immunomodulators.

The company is best known for Comirnaty, its COVID-19 vaccine developed and commercialized globally in collaboration with Pfizer. BioNTech is also advancing a broad oncology pipeline that includes individualized and off-the-shelf cancer vaccines, antibody-based treatments, cell therapies and combination approaches designed to stimulate or direct the immune system against tumors.

BioNTech was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mainz, Germany.