BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $96.73, but opened at $102.01. BioNTech shares last traded at $98.2810, with a volume of 280,604 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BNTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of BioNTech in a report on Friday, June 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on BioNTech from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BioNTech from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised BioNTech from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $117.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.00.

BioNTech Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.59 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 7.80, a current ratio of 7.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.98 and a 200-day moving average of $95.27.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($2.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.40) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $122.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.18 million. BioNTech had a negative return on equity of 6.86% and a negative net margin of 63.54%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 59.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.60) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR will post -6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BioNTech

In related news, CEO Ugur Sahin sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.85, for a total value of $4,628,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 813,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,638,545.65. This trade represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 170,000 shares of company stock valued at $17,053,965. Company insiders own 19.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BioNTech

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Monaco Asset Management SAM acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the fourth quarter worth about $1,594,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,969,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of BioNTech by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 903,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,261,000 after purchasing an additional 166,432 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in BioNTech by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 129,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,511,000 after buying an additional 25,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in BioNTech by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,578,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,235,000 after buying an additional 474,796 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.52% of the company’s stock.

BioNTech Company Profile

BioNTech SE is a biotechnology company focused on developing immunotherapies and vaccines for cancer and other serious diseases. Its research platforms include messenger RNA, cell therapies, protein-based therapeutics, antibody therapies and small-molecule immunomodulators.

The company is best known for Comirnaty, its COVID-19 vaccine developed and commercialized globally in collaboration with Pfizer. BioNTech is also advancing a broad oncology pipeline that includes individualized and off-the-shelf cancer vaccines, antibody-based treatments, cell therapies and combination approaches designed to stimulate or direct the immune system against tumors.

BioNTech was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mainz, Germany.