Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 27,036 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 145% compared to the typical volume of 11,038 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Novavax by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,470,365 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $103,961,000 after acquiring an additional 275,802 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management lifted its holdings in Novavax by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 14,558,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $97,835,000 after purchasing an additional 2,747,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Novavax by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,523,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,927 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,894,284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Novavax by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,101,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Price Performance

Novavax stock opened at $11.19 on Friday. Novavax has a 52 week low of $5.01 and a 52 week high of $11.97. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $8.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 2.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.66) by $0.77. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 217.02% and a net margin of 32.10%.The company had revenue of $136.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.26 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.51) earnings per share. Novavax’s revenue was up 66.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Novavax News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Novavax this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat — Novavax reported a surprise GAAP profit (EPS $0.11) and materially beat revenue expectations (Q4 revenue ~ $147M), driving the initial rally. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Raised 2026 adjusted revenue outlook — management said milestone and licensing payments (from partners) should offset weaker end-market demand, supporting revenue expectations for 2026. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and milestones — Company highlighted a $225M Sanofi milestone earned in 2025 and a January 2026 non‑exclusive Matrix‑M licensing agreement with Pfizer, which underpin near-term cash generation and validation of the adjuvant platform. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Solid balance sheet and cost progress — Novavax ended 2025 with roughly $751M in cash and reported R&D and SG&A reductions, reducing financing risk and increasing runway for pipeline work. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor events — Management will present at upcoming investor conferences (TD Cowen fireside chat on March 3), which gives investors a chance to hear management’s outlook and Q&A. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call transcript available — The full Q4 earnings call transcript and slides give detail on product deliveries, milestone timing and pipeline timing for investors who want to dig deeper. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Cautious FY‑2026 revenue guide — Management issued FY‑2026 revenue guidance (approximately $230M–$270M), which is well below consensus estimates and implies near‑term demand weakness; this tempered some upside despite the beat. (Guidance disclosed in company materials and filings.)

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on NVAX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Novavax from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price (down from $18.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.25.

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.