Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Acquires New Position in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased 297,552 shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX), valued at approximately $1.9 million, increasing its ownership to 0.18% as per the latest SEC filing.
• Equity analysts have mixed views on Novavax, with two analysts rating it as "sell", two as "hold," and four as "buy," while the average target price is set at $15.86.
• Novavax reported $2.93 earnings per share for its latest quarter, significantly exceeding estimates and showing a revenue increase of 610.3% year-over-year.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 297,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,907,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.18% of Novavax as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Novavax in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Novavax during the 1st quarter worth $71,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Novavax by 2,272.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,839 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 11,340 shares during the period. Kitching Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Novavax in the 4th quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Novavax in the 1st quarter valued at about $99,000. 53.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novavax Trading Up 12.6%

Shares of Novavax stock traded up $0.85 on Wednesday, hitting $7.58. The stock had a trading volume of 23,311,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,113,548. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.08 and a beta of 2.50. Novavax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.01 and a 52-week high of $15.22. The company's 50 day moving average price is $6.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.21.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.74. The business had revenue of $239.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.19 million. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 115.51% and a net margin of 38.14%. The company's revenue was down 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NVAX. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Novavax from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Novavax in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Novavax from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novavax presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $15.86.

Novavax Company Profile

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.