Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Shares Gap Down to $12.29

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $12.29, but opened at $11.75. Novavax shares last traded at $11.22, with a volume of 1,118,062 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Novavax from $12.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target (down previously from $25.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.80.

Novavax Stock Up 14.2 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.29 and a beta of 2.04.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.83). The company had revenue of $415.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James F. Young sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.09, for a total transaction of $105,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,198.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Novavax by 26.9% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 4,887 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Novavax by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 44,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Novavax by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 12,753 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,447 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 500.0% during the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 3,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 12.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

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.