Short Interest in BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) Grows By 16.8%

BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,690,000 shares, an increase of 16.8% from the April 15th total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 594,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.2 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of BioNTech

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new position in BioNTech in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,445,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of BioNTech by 3,881.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 16,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 16,224 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of BioNTech by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 158,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,264,000 after acquiring an additional 87,686 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc purchased a new stake in BioNTech during the 4th quarter worth $10,961,000. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC acquired a new stake in BioNTech in the 4th quarter valued at $938,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of BioNTech from $123.00 to $122.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on BioNTech in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “inline” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on BioNTech from $113.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of BioNTech in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BioNTech presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.25.

BioNTech Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BNTX traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $92.98. The company had a trading volume of 389,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 637,507. BioNTech has a fifty-two week low of $85.21 and a fifty-two week high of $125.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.85. The stock has a market cap of $22.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 185.96 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 11.38, a quick ratio of 11.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by ($0.59). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. BioNTech had a net margin of 4.01% and a return on equity of 0.55%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BioNTech will post -1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.