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

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 21,020 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 71% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,273 call options.

Novavax Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of Novavax stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $7.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,803,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,105,478. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 2.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.27. Novavax has a 12-month low of $5.01 and a 12-month high of $11.97.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.66) by $0.77. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 673.17% and a net margin of 39.19%.The company had revenue of $136.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.51) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 66.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NVAX shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novavax from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Novavax from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Novavax from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novavax has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Novavax by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,961,000 after acquiring an additional 275,802 shares during the last quarter. Shah Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Novavax by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,558,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,747,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Novavax by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,927 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Novavax by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Novavax by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 15,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.