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

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 21,279 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 50% compared to the typical volume of 14,187 call options.

Institutional Trading of Novavax

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVAX. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Novavax during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Novavax in the third quarter worth $33,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 917.3% during the first quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 4,242 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 34.9% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax during the second quarter valued at $52,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novavax Stock Up 8.1%

Shares of Novavax stock traded up $0.85 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,725,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,946,031. The company has a market cap 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.30.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $118.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $79.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 79.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NVAX. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, March 12th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Novavax from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novavax from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.13.

Novavax News Roundup

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

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.