Novavax Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 35,552 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 124% compared to the typical daily volume of 15,904 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Novavax in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 97.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,954 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 3,917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Novavax stock opened at $7.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of -3.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 3.21. Novavax has a 12-month low of $5.01 and a 12-month high of $23.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.83.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $2.22. The firm had revenue of $666.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.08 million. Novavax’s revenue was up 610.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.05) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Novavax to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Novavax in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Novavax from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

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.