BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) Short Interest Up 18.5% in August

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,110,000 shares, an increase of 18.5% from the July 31st total of 1,780,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 731,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

BioNTech Price Performance

Shares of BNTX stock opened at $125.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 10.56 and a quick ratio of 10.32. The company has a market capitalization of $30.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.01 and a beta of 0.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.43. BioNTech has a one year low of $95.50 and a one year high of $188.99.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.79) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.04. BioNTech had a return on equity of 21.46% and a net margin of 47.37%. The firm had revenue of $167.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $628.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 94.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BioNTech will post 6.12 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BNTX. Redburn Partners raised BioNTech from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on BioNTech from $119.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $135.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of BioNTech in a report on Monday. Finally, HSBC started coverage on shares of BioNTech in a report on Friday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BNTX. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of BioNTech by 7,125.0% during the second quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 61.6% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BioNTech during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in BioNTech by 18,750.0% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioNTech Company Profile

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and other infectious diseases. The company is developing FixVac product candidates, including BNT111, which is in Phase II clinical trial for advance melanoma; BNT112 that is in Phase I/IIa clinical trial for prostate cancer; BNT113, which is in Phase II clinical trial to treat HPV 16+ head and neck cancers; BNT115, which is in Phase I clinical trial in ovarian cancer; and BNT116, which is in Phase I clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer.