Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

NVAX has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Novavax to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Novavax in a report on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Novavax Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Novavax stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $8.09. 2,005,260 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,033,198. Novavax has a 12-month low of $3.81 and a 12-month high of $23.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.71. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of -3.59, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 2.92.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $88.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.44) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -1.46 EPS for the current year.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $37,433.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,225.40. The trade was a 21.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James F. Young sold 5,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $43,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $414,080. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,150 shares of company stock valued at $119,641 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Novavax

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Novavax by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,726,250 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $126,439,000 after buying an additional 296,181 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management increased its position in shares of Novavax by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,148,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $89,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333,305 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,621,772 shares in the last quarter. Sanofi bought a new position in Novavax in the fourth quarter worth $55,319,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Novavax by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,657,695 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $29,415,000 after buying an additional 155,206 shares in the last quarter. 53.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.