Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Stock Price Up 5.6% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Valneva's stock price increased by 5.6%, closing at $9.00, despite a significant drop in trading volume.
• Analysts have a consensus target price of $15.00, with several firms giving the stock a "buy" rating, while the most recent ratings range from $13.00 to $18.00.
• In its latest earnings report, Valneva beat expectations with revenues of $54.84 million and posted an earnings per share of ($0.16), exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.11.

Shares of Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) rose 5.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $8.93 and last traded at $9.00. Approximately 10,775 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 70,513 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VALN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $14.00 price objective on Valneva and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Valneva in a report on Monday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Valneva to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on Valneva from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Valneva Stock Up 5.2%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $769.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.16 and a beta of 1.78.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valneva

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marex Group plc acquired a new position in Valneva in the second quarter worth about $64,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Valneva in the first quarter worth about $94,000. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in Valneva in the second quarter worth about $8,240,000. 11.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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