Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Trading Down 6.2% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) traded down 6.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $9.01 and last traded at $8.9050. 1,650,557 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 4,975,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 31st. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Novavax from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.13.

Novavax Trading Down 7.5%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.19 and a beta of 2.45.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $79.81 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 79.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Novavax by 95.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 44,427 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 21,663 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Novavax by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 104,562 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Novavax during the 1st quarter worth $158,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in Novavax by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 312,789 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,005,000 after buying an additional 44,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Novavax during the 1st quarter worth $167,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novavax Company Profile

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.