Sanofi Takes $55.32 Million Position in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Sanofi acquired a new stake in shares of Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,880,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $55,319,000. Novavax accounts for about 31.7% of Sanofi's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sanofi owned about 4.30% of Novavax at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVAX. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 300.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 97,162 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 72,894 shares in the last quarter. Shah Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 11,148,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $89,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333,305 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 41,793 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 5,407 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 436,451 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Novavax by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 76,576 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 17,101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NVAX. TD Cowen upgraded Novavax to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Novavax from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BTIG Research began coverage on Novavax in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $19.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novavax presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.00.

Novavax Stock Up 15.0%

Shares of Novavax stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $7.74. 83,872,785 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,426,301. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 3.21. Novavax, Inc. has a one year low of $5.01 and a one year high of $23.86.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $2.22. The firm had revenue of $666.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.08 million. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 610.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.05) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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.