Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.85, but opened at $9.58. Valneva shares last traded at $10.00, with a volume of 13,443 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VALN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Valneva in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Valneva from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Valneva from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valneva currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Valneva Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $844.39 million, a P/E ratio of -6.81 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported ($0.61) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.31). The company had revenue of $34.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.85 million. Valneva had a negative net margin of 57.81% and a negative return on equity of 59.44%. Sell-side analysts expect that Valneva SE Sponsored ADR will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Valneva

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new position in Valneva in the second quarter worth approximately $8,240,000. Marex Group plc bought a new position in shares of Valneva in the 2nd quarter worth $64,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in Valneva in the 3rd quarter valued at $124,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Valneva by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 11.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valneva Company Profile

Valneva SE is a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases. Headquartered in Saint-Herblain, France, the company applies inactivated whole-cell and recombinant technology platforms to address public health needs. Valneva’s research and development efforts span a range of viral and bacterial pathogens, with an emphasis on travel-related and emerging infectious diseases.

Among its marketed products, Valneva offers IXIARO®/JESPECT® for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL® for the prevention of cholera and diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.