BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) Shares Up 5.2% on Analyst Upgrade

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX)’s share price shot up 5.2% during trading on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $96.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. BioNTech traded as high as $110.49 and last traded at $110.42. 402,808 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 713,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $105.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $113.00 price target on shares of BioNTech in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of BioNTech from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC upgraded shares of BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.00.

Institutional Trading of BioNTech

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of BioNTech by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,763,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,735,000 after purchasing an additional 131,490 shares during the last quarter. Harding Loevner LP purchased a new stake in BioNTech in the 4th quarter worth approximately $410,984,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in BioNTech by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 943,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,002,000 after acquiring an additional 4,369 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its stake in shares of BioNTech by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 594,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,734,000 after purchasing an additional 24,426 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 261.2% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 578,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,526,000 after purchasing an additional 418,695 shares during the last quarter. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioNTech Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $87.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.67. The firm has a market cap of $29.34 billion, a PE ratio of 246.80 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 7.54 and a quick ratio of 7.40.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The company reported ($3.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.02) by ($1.34). BioNTech had a negative net margin of 18.69% and a negative return on equity of 2.54%. The company had revenue of $128.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.86) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BioNTech SE will post -2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and other infectious diseases. The company is developing FixVac product candidates, including BNT111, which is in Phase II clinical trial for advance melanoma; BNT112 that is in Phase I/IIa clinical trial for prostate cancer; BNT113, which is in Phase II clinical trial to treat HPV 16+ head and neck cancers; BNT114 to treat triple negative breast cancer; BNT115, which is in Phase I clinical trial in ovarian cancer; and BNT116, which is in Phase I clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer.