Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Shares Gap Down - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Valneva's stock price gapped down from a previous close of $8.85 to open at $8.06 before last trading at $8.22.
• Analysts have mixed ratings, with Jefferies setting a price target of $14.00 and HC Wainwright issuing a target of $18.00, reflecting a current consensus rating of "Buy".
• In its latest earnings report, Valneva posted a revenue of $54.84 million, exceeding expectations and reporting a loss of ($0.16) EPS.

Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.85, but opened at $8.06. Valneva shares last traded at $8.22, with a volume of 13,485 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Valneva in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Valneva from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $14.00 target price on shares of Valneva and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Valneva has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $15.33.

Valneva Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $741.56 million, a PE ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 1.79. The stock's fifty day moving average is $7.98 and its 200-day moving average is $7.07.

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $54.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $46.28 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Valneva SE Sponsored ADR will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Valneva

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marex Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Valneva during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Valneva in the first quarter valued at $94,000. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Valneva during the second quarter valued at $8,240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.39% of the company's stock.

Valneva Company Profile

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.