Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.00.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Novavax by 917.3% in the first quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 4,242 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 3,825 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Novavax by 34.9% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,229 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Novavax during the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Novavax by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 1,617 shares during the period. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novavax News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Novavax this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Novavax shares rallied Wednesday after successful late-stage melanoma vaccine results from Moderna and Merck boosted sentiment across the vaccine and biotechnology sectors. The developments highlighted the potential commercial opportunity for personalized cancer vaccines and lifted interest in vaccine developers broadly. Novavax Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To Know
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually strong call-option activity accompanied the rally, with traders purchasing 25,659 Novavax call contracts—about 156% above typical volume—signaling increased speculative bullish interest in the stock. Novavax options activity report
• Neutral Sentiment: The move was driven by industry-wide enthusiasm rather than a new Novavax clinical or financial announcement. The company’s own near-term outlook therefore remains dependent on its vaccine business, pipeline execution and ability to translate sector interest into results.
• Negative Sentiment: Novavax, Recursion and CRISPR Therapeutics slipped in premarket trading after surging the prior session, indicating some momentum traders were locking in gains following the cancer-therapy news. Recursion, Novavax and CRISPR Stocks Trending in Pre-Market
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warned that the broader rally in vaccine stocks could fade, particularly because Moderna’s cancer-vaccine success does not directly validate Novavax’s pipeline. This creates a risk that NVAX gives back part of its sector-driven gains. BioNTech Stock Surges on Moderna Cancer Vaccine Win

Novavax Trading Down 4.2%

Novavax stock opened at $8.42 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $8.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.91. Novavax has a 52 week low of $6.20 and a 52 week high of $11.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.54 and a beta of 2.46.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.06. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 14.82% and a negative net margin of 59.87%.The company had revenue of $56.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.51 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 76.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Novavax will post -0.43 EPS for the current year.

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.