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

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 41,513 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 109% compared to the typical volume of 19,859 call options.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Novavax

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novavax by 300.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 97,162 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 72,894 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 3rd quarter valued at about $714,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,502,489 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $44,245,000 after acquiring an additional 304,159 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 73.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 709,579 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $8,961,000 after purchasing an additional 301,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 147.6% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 63,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $797,000 after acquiring an additional 37,631 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.04% of the company's stock.

Novavax Trading Up 10.9 %

NASDAQ NVAX traded up $1.06 on Tuesday, reaching $10.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,950,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,531,825. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of -4.79 and a beta of 2.07. Novavax has a 52 week low of $3.53 and a 52 week high of $23.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.28.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.07. The business had revenue of $84.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.26) EPS. Novavax's revenue for the quarter was down 54.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -1.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on NVAX shares. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novavax has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.83.

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.