Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Trading Down 8.2% – Here’s What Happened

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)’s stock price traded down 8.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $9.86 and last traded at $9.93. 1,956,021 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 6,373,472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novavax has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Novavax Trading Down 3.0 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.12 and a beta of 2.07.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $84.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.80 million. Novavax’s revenue for the quarter was down 54.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.26) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total transaction of $37,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at $133,225.40. The trade was a 21.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James F. Young sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $43,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 51,760 shares in the company, valued at $414,080. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,150 shares of company stock worth $119,641 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Novavax by 26.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,687,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621,772 shares in the last quarter. Shah Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 9,662,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $122,322,000 after acquiring an additional 1,544,263 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Novavax in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,055,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Novavax by 940.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,154,276 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,363 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,999,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,252,000 after buying an additional 656,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc, a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response.