BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) Raised to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BNTX. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of BioNTech in a report on Friday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Truist Financial upgraded BioNTech to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on BioNTech from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.12.

BioNTech Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BNTX opened at $91.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 8.74, a current ratio of 8.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of -15.56 and a beta of 1.32. BioNTech has a twelve month low of $79.52 and a twelve month high of $124.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.81.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($2.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.52) by $0.26. BioNTech had a negative net margin of 44.39% and a negative return on equity of 5.30%. The company had revenue of $136.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.73) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that BioNTech will post -5.79 EPS for the current year.

BioNTech announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Sierk Poetting sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total transaction of $5,528,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 399,387 shares in the company, valued at $44,156,226.72. The trade was a 11.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 19.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioNTech

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GSK plc bought a new position in BioNTech in the 4th quarter worth about $84,711,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,578,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,235,000 after acquiring an additional 474,796 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of BioNTech by 116.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 839,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,658,000 after acquiring an additional 451,124 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of BioNTech by 344.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 573,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,544,000 after acquiring an additional 444,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BioNTech during the fourth quarter worth about $41,656,000. Hedge funds and other 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.