Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Stock Price Up 6.1% – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVAX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price objective (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Novavax Trading Down 3.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.08 and a beta of 2.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.73 and a 200-day moving average of $10.92.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $84.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.26) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 54.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Novavax

In other Novavax news, Director James F. Young sold 5,400 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $43,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $414,080. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $37,433.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at $133,225.40. The trade was 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 valued at $119,641 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Novavax

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Shah Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,148,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,637,000 after buying an additional 1,333,305 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,687,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $97,099,000 after buying an additional 1,621,772 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,502,489 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,245,000 after buying an additional 304,159 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,454,325 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,643,000 after buying an additional 517,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,999,400 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,252,000 after buying an additional 656,900 shares in the last quarter. 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.