Franklin Resources Inc. Has $15.59 Million Position in BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) by 3,942.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 136,786 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133,402 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in BioNTech were worth $15,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of BioNTech by 70.7% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 385,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,947,000 after buying an additional 159,676 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in BioNTech in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,128,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in BioNTech by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 187,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,349,000 after acquiring an additional 53,319 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its position in BioNTech by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 4,406,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,160,000 after acquiring an additional 47,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the third quarter worth approximately $4,104,000. 15.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BioNTech from $130.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on BioNTech from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $171.44 price target on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $172.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $145.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BioNTech presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.44.

BioNTech Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of BNTX opened at $86.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 7.21 and a current ratio of 7.33. BioNTech SE has a 52-week low of $76.53 and a 52-week high of $131.49. The firm has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.34 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $108.15 and its 200-day moving average is $112.59.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.70. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. BioNTech had a negative return on equity of 2.35% and a negative net margin of 15.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BioNTech SE will post -3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and other infectious diseases. The company is developing FixVac product candidates, including BNT111, which is in Phase II clinical trial for advance melanoma; BNT112 that is in Phase I/IIa clinical trial for prostate cancer; BNT113, which is in Phase II clinical trial to treat HPV 16+ head and neck cancers; BNT114 to treat triple negative breast cancer; BNT115, which is in Phase I clinical trial in ovarian cancer; and BNT116, which is in Phase I clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer.