Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Sets New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Valneva SE shares reached a new 52-week high of $11.18, rising from a previous close of $9.40, with a trading volume of 132,961 shares.
• Guggenheim lowered its price target for Valneva from $15.00 to $14.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating cautious optimism.
• Wells Fargo increased its stake in Valneva by 14.3%, owning 246,766 shares, which reflects growing institutional interest in the company.

Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $11.18 and last traded at $11.16, with a volume of 132961 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Valneva from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th.

Valneva Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock's 50-day moving average is $6.86 and its 200-day moving average is $6.75. The stock has a market cap of $981.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.77 and a beta of 1.77.

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.11. Valneva had a negative net margin of 33.87% and a negative return on equity of 34.78%. The company had revenue of $54.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.28 million. On average, analysts expect that Valneva SE Sponsored ADR will post 0.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Valneva

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Valneva by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 246,766 shares of the company's stock worth $1,079,000 after buying an additional 30,859 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Valneva during the first quarter worth $94,000. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new position in Valneva during the second quarter worth $8,240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.39% of the company's stock.

About Valneva

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine.