Insider Selling: Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) Director Sells 5,400 Shares of Stock

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) Director James F. Young sold 5,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $43,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 51,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $414,080. This trade represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Novavax Price Performance

NVAX stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $8.57. 3,813,721 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,060,255. Novavax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $3.53 and a 52-week high of $23.86. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.79 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $8.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.38.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $84.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $65.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.26) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 54.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.44 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NVAX. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (up from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NVAX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Novavax by 16.5% during 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 buying an additional 187,548 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew 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 purchasing an additional 517,727 shares during the last quarter. Shah Capital Management grew its position in shares of Novavax by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 9,662,090 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $122,322,000 after buying an additional 1,544,263 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 26.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,687,951 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $97,099,000 after buying an additional 1,621,772 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Novavax by 110.3% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 498,532 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,296,000 after acquiring an additional 261,464 shares during the period. 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.