Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.00.

Novavax Stock Performance

Shares of Novavax stock opened at $7.32 on Friday. Novavax has a 12-month low of $6.20 and a 12-month high of $11.97. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.62 and a beta of 2.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.00.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $118.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.81 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 79.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Novavax will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Novavax by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,927 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Novavax by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,981 shares in the last quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 645,000 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Novavax by 108.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,102,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,407,000 after buying an additional 574,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Novavax in the first quarter worth about $4,234,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.