Insider Selling: BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) CEO Sells 31,500 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin sold 31,500 shares at an average price of $103.52, worth approximately $3.26 million, under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. He also sold 45,000 shares the previous day.
• BioNTech shares fell 4.9% to $98.66, while the company’s latest quarterly results missed expectations: revenue declined 59.5% year over year to $122.31 million and adjusted EPS was a loss of $2.53.
• Despite weak financial results and recent insider selling, analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $126, versus the stock’s current price.

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report) CEO Ugur Sahin sold 31,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.52, for a total value of $3,260,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 781,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at $80,922,515.68. The trade was a 3.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ugur Sahin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 3rd, Ugur Sahin sold 45,000 shares of BioNTech stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.85, for a total value of $4,628,250.00.

BioNTech Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of BioNTech stock traded down $5.10 on Tuesday, reaching $98.66. 1,103,851 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,410. BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR has a 1-year low of $79.52 and a 1-year high of $124.00. The company has a market cap of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.60 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 7.85 and a quick ratio of 7.80. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $96.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.61.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($2.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.40) by ($0.13). BioNTech had a negative net margin of 63.54% and a negative return on equity of 6.86%. The firm had revenue of $122.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.18 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.60) EPS. The firm's revenue was down 59.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR will post -6.33 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BioNTech

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BNTX. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 86.4% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 274 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in BioNTech during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in BioNTech by 520.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 310 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in BioNTech by 118.2% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 563 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in BioNTech in the fourth quarter valued at $153,000. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BNTX shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on BioNTech from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Berenberg Bank lowered their target price on shares of BioNTech from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of BioNTech from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BioNTech currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $126.00.

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.

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