Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Price Up 6.9% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) traded up 6.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $9.10 and last traded at $9.00. Approximately 2,945,177 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 4,623,850 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, June 11th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Novavax has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Novavax Trading Up 6.2%

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.88 and a beta of 2.46.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $56.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.51 million. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 14.82% and a negative net margin of 59.87%.Novavax’s quarterly revenue was down 76.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Novavax, Inc. will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG grew its position in Novavax by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,890,000 after buying an additional 1,405,981 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Novavax by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,961,000 after acquiring an additional 275,802 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Novavax in the first quarter valued at about $4,234,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Novavax in the first quarter valued at about $4,049,000. Finally, Monaco Asset Management SAM grew its position in shares of Novavax by 161.3% during the 4th quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 1,045,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 645,000 shares during the period. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Novavax

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.