Short Interest in Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN) Rises By 25.4%

Key Points

• Short interest rose 25.4% in March to 173,642 shares (about 0.2% of shares outstanding) and the stock has a high days-to-cover ratio of 12.7 days, indicating potential difficulty for shorts to quickly unwind positions.
• Analyst views are mixed but lean positive: the consensus rating is "Moderate Buy" with a $15.00 target (three Buys, one Sell), although Wall Street Zen recently downgraded Valneva to a Sell.
• Valneva opened at $6.17 with a market cap of $531.3M, reported a negative EPS of ($0.68) and a net margin of −67.64%, and trades in a 52‑week range of $5.43–$12.25.

Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 173,642 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the February 26th total of 138,488 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,666 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 12.7 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company's stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded Valneva from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Institutional Trading of Valneva

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VALN. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Valneva by 125.0% during the third quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Valneva in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in shares of Valneva during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $124,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Valneva during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,000. Finally, Marex Group plc acquired a new stake in Valneva in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,000. Institutional investors own 11.39% of the company's stock.

Valneva Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VALN opened at $6.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.38. The stock's 50-day moving average is $9.92 and its 200-day moving average is $9.61. The company has a market cap of $531.30 million, a P/E ratio of -3.91 and a beta of 1.79. Valneva has a 52-week low of $5.43 and a 52-week high of $12.25.

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Sunday, February 15th. The company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $55.92 million for the quarter. Valneva had a negative net margin of 67.64% and a negative return on equity of 76.81%. Equities research analysts predict that Valneva will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Valneva Company Profile

Valneva SE is a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases. Headquartered in Saint-Herblain, France, the company applies inactivated whole-cell and recombinant technology platforms to address public health needs. Valneva's research and development efforts span a range of viral and bacterial pathogens, with an emphasis on travel-related and emerging infectious diseases.

Among its marketed products, Valneva offers IXIARO®/JESPECT® for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL® for the prevention of cholera and diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

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