Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Shares Up 6.1% – Here’s Why

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) shares rose 6.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $9.37 and last traded at $9.37. Approximately 2,534,306 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 5,101,912 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NVAX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, 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, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Novavax Stock Up 8.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of -4.23 and a beta of 2.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.95.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $84.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.80 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 54.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.26) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Novavax

In other Novavax news, Director James F. Young sold 4,600 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.48, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 57,160 shares in the company, valued at $484,716.80. The trade was a 7.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $37,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at $133,225.40. This trade represents a 21.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,150 shares of company stock worth $119,641 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Novavax by 97.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,954 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 3,917 shares in the last quarter. Shah Capital Management boosted its holdings in Novavax by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,148,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333,305 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Novavax by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,158,967 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,318,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Novavax by 300.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 97,162 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 72,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Novavax in the third quarter worth about $714,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

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.