Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 41,513 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 109% compared to the typical volume of 19,859 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on NVAX. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.83.

Insider Activity at Novavax

In other Novavax news, Director James F. Young sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.48, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 57,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $484,716.80. This represents a 7.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of Novavax stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total transaction of $37,433.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,225.40. The trade was a 21.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,150 shares of company stock worth $119,641 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 4,887 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Novavax by 38.1% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Novavax by 3,538.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,299 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 11,961 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Novavax during the third quarter worth approximately $158,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Novavax during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Novavax Price Performance

NASDAQ:NVAX traded up $1.21 on Tuesday, reaching $10.97. The stock had a trading volume of 10,103,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,248,453. Novavax has a 12-month low of $3.53 and a 12-month high of $23.86. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.85 and a beta of 2.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $8.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.28.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $84.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.80 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 54.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.26) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Novavax will post -1.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.