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

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Aug 19th, 2026

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX – Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 25,659 call options on the company. This is an increase of 156% compared to the average volume of 10,011 call options.

Novavax Trading Up 10.8%

NVAX traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,643,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,596,587. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.77 and a beta of 2.47. Novavax has a twelve month low of $6.20 and a twelve month high of $11.97.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $56.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.51 million. Novavax had a negative return on equity of 14.82% and a negative net margin of 59.87%.Novavax’s revenue for the quarter was down 76.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Novavax will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Novavax by 34.9% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,746 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Novavax by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 155,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Novavax by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 7,896 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,617 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Novavax by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 78,048 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 1,718 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its position in shares of Novavax by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 34,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVAX has been the subject of several analyst reports. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Novavax in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Novavax from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Novavax from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Novavax from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Novavax in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.00.

Read Our Latest Research Report on Novavax

Novavax Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Novavax, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that specializes in the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases. Founded in 1987, the company has built a platform based on recombinant nanoparticle technology and its proprietary Matrix-M™ adjuvant to enhance immune responses.

The company’s lead product is NVX-CoV2373, a protein-based vaccine designed to elicit a robust immune response against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.