Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 21,279 call options on the company. This is an increase of 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 14,187 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Shah Capital Management grew its holdings in Novavax by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,558,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,835,000 after buying an additional 2,747,000 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novavax by 4,775.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 780,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,763,000 after purchasing an additional 764,000 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 162.6% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,409,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,222,000 after buying an additional 872,987 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Novavax by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,981 shares during the period. Finally, Monaco Asset Management SAM grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 73.9% in the third quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 400,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,468,000 after acquiring an additional 170,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NVAX opened at $10.32 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $8.84 and its 200 day moving average is $8.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.79 and a beta of 2.37. Novavax has a 1 year low of $6.13 and a 1 year high of $11.97.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.19. Novavax had a negative net margin of 14.73% and a negative return on equity of 14.82%. The business had revenue of $118.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Novavax’s revenue for the quarter was down 79.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Novavax will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Novavax

Here are the key news stories impacting Novavax this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Novavax rose after reports that FDA advisers will consider updating the 2026-27 COVID-19 vaccines to target the latest XFG subvariant, which could support renewed demand for COVID vaccine makers. Why Novavax (NVAX) Stock Is Trading Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised multiple Novavax earnings estimates, including FY2026, FY2027, and FY2028, signaling improved profit outlook and helping investor sentiment.
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call option activity suggests traders are positioning for more upside in NVAX, often a sign of bullish sentiment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data showed 0 shares reported as short, so there was no meaningful new bearish short-position signal in the latest filing.

Novavax Company Profile

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.