Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $10.30, but opened at $9.97. Valneva shares last traded at $10.0190, with a volume of 1,646 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VALN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Valneva in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Valneva from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valneva currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.00.

Valneva Stock Down 4.1%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $850.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.86 and a beta of 1.83.

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The company reported ($0.61) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.31). Valneva had a negative return on equity of 59.44% and a negative net margin of 57.81%.The business had revenue of $34.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.85 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Valneva SE Sponsored ADR will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valneva

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Valneva in the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,240,000. Marex Group plc acquired a new stake in Valneva during the second quarter worth approximately $64,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in Valneva in the third quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Valneva by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.39% of the company’s stock.

About Valneva

Valneva SE is a specialty vaccine company focused on the development and commercialization of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases. Headquartered in Saint-Herblain, France, the company applies inactivated whole-cell and recombinant technology platforms to address public health needs. Valneva’s research and development efforts span a range of viral and bacterial pathogens, with an emphasis on travel-related and emerging infectious diseases.

Among its marketed products, Valneva offers IXIARO®/JESPECT® for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL® for the prevention of cholera and diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.