Investors Purchase Large Volume of Novavax Call Options (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 21,279 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the average daily volume of 14,187 call options.

Trending Headlines about Novavax

Here are the key news stories impacting Novavax this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its earnings outlook across several Novavax periods, including FY2026, FY2027, FY2028, and multiple quarterly estimates, with the biggest improvement coming in FY2028 EPS, which was lifted to $1.29 from $0.78. Higher profit forecasts typically support a stock’s valuation. Novavax stock page
• Positive Sentiment: NVAX also reacted to news that FDA advisers will consider updating the 2026-27 COVID-19 vaccines to match the latest XFG subvariant, which could improve the commercial outlook for vaccine makers like Novavax. Why Novavax (NVAX) Stock Is Trading Up Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research continued to model Novavax as profitable in some future periods, but the company still carries a consensus full-year EPS estimate of a loss for the current year, so investors may remain focused on execution rather than near-term earnings. Zacks trending stock article

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Shah Capital Management boosted its holdings in Novavax by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,558,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,835,000 after buying an additional 2,747,000 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Novavax by 4,775.0% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 780,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,763,000 after buying an additional 764,000 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Novavax by 162.6% during 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 during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Novavax by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,981 shares during the period. Finally, Monaco Asset Management SAM raised its position 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. TD Cowen upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.13.

Novavax Trading Up 8.1%

NVAX traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.31. 5,725,976 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,946,031. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.39 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 data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by $0.19. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 14.82% and a negative net margin of 14.73%.The business had revenue of $118.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 79.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -0.2 EPS for the current year.

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.