Wall Street Zen Downgrades Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) to Sell

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

NVAX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Novavax in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Novavax from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Novavax in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Novavax from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Novavax has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.71.

Novavax Price Performance

NVAX traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $7.44. 5,039,174 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,263,588. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The company has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 3.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.57. Novavax has a 1 year low of $5.01 and a 1 year high of $11.55.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.08) by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $70.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.63 million. Novavax had a net margin of 39.20% and a negative return on equity of 142.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.76) EPS. Novavax has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Shah Capital Management grew its holdings in Novavax by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,511,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $72,524,000 after purchasing an additional 379,934 shares during the last quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Novavax during the first quarter valued at approximately $16,210,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Novavax by 162.6% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,409,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,222,000 after buying an additional 872,987 shares during the period. TSP Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. TSP Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,399,065 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,814,000 after acquiring an additional 46,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 918,683 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,965,000 after acquiring an additional 15,997 shares during the last quarter. 53.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novavax Company Profile

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.