Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $31.00 to $25.00. The stock had previously closed at $12.60, but opened at $10.43. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Novavax shares last traded at $9.99, with a volume of 10,019,909 shares changing hands.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novavax presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Novavax during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 500.0% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 3,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 1st quarter valued at $48,000. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in Novavax by 31.6% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 11,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Stock Up 2.0 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.26 and a beta of 2.04.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.83). The business had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.57 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novavax, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc, a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response.