TD Cowen Upgrades Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) to “Hold”

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) was upgraded by analysts at TD Cowen to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Novavax in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Novavax Trading Up 18.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NVAX opened at $8.33 on Thursday. Novavax has a 12-month low of $3.81 and a 12-month high of $23.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $8.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.69, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 2.14.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by $0.24. The company had revenue of $88.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.44) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Novavax

In related news, Director James F. Young sold 4,600 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.48, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 57,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $484,716.80. The trade was a 7.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total transaction of $37,433.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,225.40. The trade was a 21.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,150 shares of company stock worth $119,641. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NVAX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Novavax by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,325,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $16,741,000 after purchasing an additional 187,548 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 26.7% in the third 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Novavax by 26.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,687,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,621,772 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Novavax by 300.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 97,162 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 72,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shah Capital Management increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,333,305 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

About Novavax

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.