Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Upgraded to Neutral at Bank of America

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $12.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock, up from their previous price target of $4.00. Bank of America's price objective indicates a potential upside of 35.14% from the company's previous close.

NVAX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Novavax from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on shares of Novavax from $35.00 to $19.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.33.

Novavax Price Performance

Shares of NVAX traded up $4.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 170,596,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,886,563. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.98. Novavax has a fifty-two week low of $3.53 and a fifty-two week high of $11.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.58 and a beta of 1.63.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.95). The business had revenue of $291.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $310.96 million. The business's revenue was down 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.28) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novavax will post -0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novavax

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Novavax by 9.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,551,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $83,633,000 after purchasing an additional 978,873 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 467.0% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 11,319 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Novavax by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 7,780,756 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $37,348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novavax in the fourth quarter worth $824,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Novavax by 309.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 60,303 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 45,574 shares in the last quarter. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Novavax

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.