Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,419 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 11,178 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Novavax were worth $157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVAX. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Novavax by 26.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in Novavax by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 44,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Novavax by 38.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Novavax by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Stock Up 10.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ NVAX opened at $10.82 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.28. Novavax, Inc. has a 52 week low of $3.53 and a 52 week high of $23.86. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.79 and a beta of 2.07.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.76) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $84.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.80 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.26) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 54.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Novavax, Inc. will post -1.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James F. Young sold 5,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $43,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 51,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,080. This trade represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel K. King sold 4,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $37,433.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,225.40. This trade represents a 21.93 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NVAX has been the topic of several research reports. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (up previously from $23.00) on shares of Novavax in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Novavax from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Novavax Company Profile

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.