BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• BioNTech has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" from 19 research firms, with 13 buy ratings, one strong buy, four holds, and one sell. The average 12-month price target is about $129.56.
• Several brokerages recently revised their views on the stock, including UBS Group upgrading BioNTech to buy and raising its target to $135.00. Other firms such as HC Wainwright, Truist Financial, Canaccord Genuity, and Deutsche Bank also maintained or raised positive ratings.
• BioNTech disclosed a $1 billion share buyback program authorized on May 7, allowing it to repurchase up to 4.2% of shares. The company also reported recent insider selling by COO Sierk Poetting, who sold 50,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Shares of BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $129.5625.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BNTX. UBS Group raised shares of BioNTech from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $117.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of BioNTech in a report on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial raised shares of BioNTech to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of BioNTech from $171.00 to $158.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of BioNTech in a report on Tuesday, March 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at BioNTech

In other news, COO Sierk Poetting sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total transaction of $5,528,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 399,387 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,156,226.72. This trade represents a 11.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 19.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 91.3% during the 3rd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 397,655 shares of the company's stock worth $39,217,000 after purchasing an additional 189,752 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 205,004 shares of the company's stock worth $20,217,000 after purchasing an additional 55,004 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 368,584 shares of the company's stock worth $35,089,000 after purchasing an additional 15,255 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 88,838 shares of the company's stock worth $8,457,000 after purchasing an additional 26,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 97.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 413,685 shares of the company's stock worth $37,531,000 after purchasing an additional 203,700 shares in the last quarter. 15.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioNTech Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of BioNTech stock opened at $95.95 on Friday. BioNTech has a 12-month low of $79.52 and a 12-month high of $124.00. The company has a current ratio of 8.80, a quick ratio of 8.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a PE ratio of -16.32 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.49.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BioNTech had a negative net margin of 44.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.30%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that BioNTech will post -4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BioNTech declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE NASDAQ: BNTX is a Germany-based biotechnology company that develops next-generation immunotherapies and vaccines, with a primary focus on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Mainz, BioNTech advances a platform approach to design and manufacture therapeutics across oncology, infectious diseases and other high unmet-need areas. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange and became widely known for its rapid development and global deployment of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer.

BioNTech's core activities include discovery research, clinical development and manufacturing of mRNA-based medicines, personalized cancer immunotherapies, engineered cell therapies, and antibody- and protein-based therapeutics.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.