Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Price Down 6.5% – Here’s What Happened

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was down 6.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $9.12 and last traded at $9.21. Approximately 1,779,879 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 4,715,310 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVAX. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Novavax Stock Down 6.6%

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.63 and a 200-day moving average of $9.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.03 and a beta of 2.45.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Novavax’s revenue was down 76.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novavax, Inc. will post -0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Novavax by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,961,000 after acquiring an additional 275,802 shares in the last quarter. Shah Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 2.0% in the first quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,845,097 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $120,839,000 after purchasing an additional 286,317 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Novavax by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $63,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,927 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,101,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 691.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,477,941 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,303 shares in the last quarter. 53.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.