Leerink Partners Downgrades BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) to Market Perform

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Leerink Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $113.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partners’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.39% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $134.00 target price on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Bank of America cut their target price on BioNTech from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $151.00 price target on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BioNTech has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.10.

BioNTech Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BNTX stock opened at $108.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 7.02, a current ratio of 7.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. BioNTech has a fifty-two week low of $81.20 and a fifty-two week high of $124.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $101.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.76. The stock has a market cap of $24.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.16 and a beta of 1.49.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.89). BioNTech had a negative return on equity of 3.03% and a negative net margin of 17.91%.The company had revenue of $1.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BioNTech will post -3.88 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BioNTech

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in BioNTech by 95.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 3,514 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BioNTech in the first quarter valued at approximately $167,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of BioNTech by 14.9% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in BioNTech by 15.3% during the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 40,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,324,000 after purchasing an additional 5,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in BioNTech by 87.2% during the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 721,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,864,000 after purchasing an additional 336,260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.52% of the company’s stock.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) is a Germany-based biotechnology company that develops next-generation immunotherapies and vaccines, with a primary focus on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Mainz, BioNTech advances a platform approach to design and manufacture therapeutics across oncology, infectious diseases and other high unmet-need areas. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange and became widely known for its rapid development and global deployment of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Pfizer.

BioNTech’s core activities include discovery research, clinical development and manufacturing of mRNA-based medicines, personalized cancer immunotherapies, engineered cell therapies, and antibody- and protein-based therapeutics.