Novavax Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 48,201 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 200% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,069 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on NVAX. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Novavax in a report on Monday, May 19th. Citigroup began 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. Bank of America cut their price objective on Novavax from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Novavax from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $15.86.

Novavax Price Performance

Shares of NVAX traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $7.64. 11,046,658 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,365,451. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 2.88, a PEG ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 2.69. Novavax has a one year low of $5.01 and a one year high of $17.81.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $2.22. The business had revenue of $666.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.08 million. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 115.51% and a net margin of 38.14%. Novavax's revenue for the quarter was up 610.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.05) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Novavax will post -1.46 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Novavax by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,726,250 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $126,439,000 after purchasing an additional 296,181 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management raised its stake in Novavax by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,511,780 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $72,524,000 after purchasing an additional 379,934 shares during the period. Sanofi purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax in the fourth quarter valued at $55,319,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novavax by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,657,695 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $29,415,000 after buying an additional 155,206 shares during the period. Finally, Park West Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novavax in the first quarter worth $16,210,000. 53.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.