T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Sells 349,043 Shares of BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR $BNTX

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management reduced its BioNTech stake by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 349,043 shares but still holding 4.48 million shares valued at about $426.9 million.
• BioNTech announced a $1 billion share repurchase program, which would allow the company to buy back up to 4.2% of its stock and may signal management sees the shares as undervalued.
• The company’s stock has been mixed: shares recently traded at $90.89, below both the 50-day and 200-day averages, while analysts overall maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with a $129.56 target price.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,484,599 shares of the company's stock after selling 349,043 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.99% of BioNTech worth $426,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BNTX. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in BioNTech by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 88,838 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,457,000 after purchasing an additional 26,119 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 189,752 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its position 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 buying an additional 55,004 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 368,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,089,000 after buying an additional 15,255 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 97.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 413,685 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,531,000 after acquiring an additional 203,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Sierk Poetting sold 50,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 399,387 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,156,226.72. This represents a 11.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 19.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BioNTech Stock Performance

Shares of BioNTech stock opened at $90.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of -15.46 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.18. BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR has a one year low of $79.52 and a one year high of $124.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 8.74 and a current ratio of 8.80.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter. BioNTech had a negative net margin of 44.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR will post -5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BioNTech announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of BioNTech from $143.00 to $128.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $125.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $116.00 to $94.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $129.56.

BioNTech Profile

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.

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