BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• BioNTech shares opened higher, rising from a prior close of $96.73 to $102.01 before settling near $98.28, up about 2.1%.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $126, although several firms recently lowered targets and some issued Sell ratings.
• The company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results, including a $2.53 loss per share and $122.31 million in revenue, down 59.5% year over year. CEO Ugur Sahin also sold 45,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $96.73, but opened at $102.01. BioNTech shares last traded at $98.2810, with a volume of 280,604 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BNTX. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group raised shares of BioNTech from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut BioNTech from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BioNTech presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.00.

BioNTech Stock Up 2.1%

The business's 50 day moving average price is $96.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a PE ratio of -12.59 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 7.80 and a current ratio of 7.85.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ugur Sahin sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.85, for a total transaction of $4,628,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,209 shares in the company, valued at $83,638,545.65. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 170,000 shares of company stock worth $17,053,965 in the last 90 days. 19.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BioNTech

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the second quarter worth about $207,142,000. GSK plc acquired a new position in shares of BioNTech in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,711,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,578,094 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,235,000 after purchasing an additional 474,796 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in BioNTech by 116.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 839,991 shares of the company's stock worth $74,658,000 after buying an additional 451,124 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in BioNTech by 344.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 573,356 shares of the company's stock worth $56,544,000 after buying an additional 444,332 shares during the period. 15.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BioNTech Company Profile

BioNTech SE is a biotechnology company focused on developing immunotherapies and vaccines for cancer and other serious diseases. Its research platforms include messenger RNA, cell therapies, protein-based therapeutics, antibody therapies and small-molecule immunomodulators.

The company is best known for Comirnaty, its COVID-19 vaccine developed and commercialized globally in collaboration with Pfizer. BioNTech is also advancing a broad oncology pipeline that includes individualized and off-the-shelf cancer vaccines, antibody-based treatments, cell therapies and combination approaches designed to stimulate or direct the immune system against tumors.

BioNTech was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mainz, Germany.

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