JPMorgan Chase & Co. Upgrades BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) to Neutral

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) was upgraded by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $125.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $91.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 1.30% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on BNTX. HSBC raised shares of BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of BioNTech from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of BioNTech from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of BioNTech from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $113.00 price objective on shares of BioNTech in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.83.

BioNTech Price Performance

NASDAQ:BNTX opened at $123.40 on Monday. BioNTech has a 1-year low of $76.53 and a 1-year high of $125.41. The company has a current ratio of 7.54, a quick ratio of 7.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.34 billion, a PE ratio of 246.80 and a beta of 0.23.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported ($3.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.02) by ($1.34). BioNTech had a negative net margin of 18.69% and a negative return on equity of 2.54%. The firm had revenue of $128.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.86) earnings per share. BioNTech’s quarterly revenue was down 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BioNTech will post -2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BioNTech

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the 2nd quarter worth $223,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the 2nd quarter worth $1,483,000. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BioNTech during the 2nd quarter worth $1,127,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 594,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,734,000 after purchasing an additional 24,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 30,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 4,115 shares in the last quarter. 15.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and other infectious diseases. The company is developing FixVac product candidates, including BNT111, which is in Phase II clinical trial for advance melanoma; BNT112 that is in Phase I/IIa clinical trial for prostate cancer; BNT113, which is in Phase II clinical trial to treat HPV 16+ head and neck cancers; BNT114 to treat triple negative breast cancer; BNT115, which is in Phase I clinical trial in ovarian cancer; and BNT116, which is in Phase I clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer.