Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Price Up 8% – Here’s Why

Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) traded up 8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $9.86 and last traded at $10.1010. 1,028,198 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,699,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NVAX. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.00.

Novavax Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.65 and a beta of 2.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.01.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $56.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.51 million. Novavax had a negative net margin of 59.87% and a negative return on equity of 14.82%. The business’s revenue was down 76.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NVAX. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Novavax by 917.3% during the 1st quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 4,242 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 292.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,353 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Novavax in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Novavax by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Novavax during the 1st quarter worth approximately $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing vaccines for infectious diseases. The company’s vaccine platform uses recombinant nanoparticle technology and Matrix-M, its proprietary saponin-based adjuvant, which is designed to enhance and broaden immune responses.

Novavax’s primary commercial product is Nuvaxovid, a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine authorized in multiple markets. The vaccine has also been marketed as Covovax through partnerships in certain countries.