Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NVAX. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.00.

Novavax Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NVAX opened at $9.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of -16.31 and a beta of 2.43. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.86. Novavax has a 52-week low of $6.20 and a 52-week high of $11.97.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVAX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Novavax by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,961,000 after buying an additional 275,802 shares in the last quarter. Shah Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,845,097 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $120,839,000 after buying an additional 286,317 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Novavax by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,927 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,405,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 0.5% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,101,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

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.