Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 51,872 Shares of Novavax, Inc. $NVAX

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Novavax, lowering its ownership to 15,674,378 shares, representing approximately 9.75% of the company, after selling 51,872 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., increased their holdings in Novavax by significant margins during the previous quarter.
• Novavax's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.62, surpassing analyst projections, although its revenue dropped 42.4% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,674,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 51,872 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.75% of Novavax worth $100,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kitching Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $71,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 2,272.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,839 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 11,340 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Novavax in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $99,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NVAX shares. Bank of America restated an "underperform" rating and set a $7.00 price target (down from $9.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on 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 Novavax in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. They set a "sell" rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright assumed coverage on Novavax in a research report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $10.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $14.29.

Novavax Stock Performance

NVAX remained flat at $7.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,377,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,319,809. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 3.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.17. Novavax, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.01 and a 52-week high of $15.22.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $239.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.19 million. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 142.33% and a net margin of 39.20%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novavax 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.