Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Nuvalent (NASDAQ:NUVL)

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Nuvalent (NASDAQ:NUVL) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 50.74% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on NUVL. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Nuvalent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Nuvalent from $68.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Nuvalent from $93.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Nuvalent in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Nuvalent in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.78.

Nuvalent Stock Performance

Nuvalent stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.35. 306,374 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 428,168. Nuvalent has a 12 month low of $29.25 and a 12 month high of $89.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.66. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of -29.84 and a beta of 1.29.

Nuvalent (NASDAQ:NUVL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.02). As a group, equities analysts expect that Nuvalent will post -2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nuvalent

In other Nuvalent news, insider Darlene Noci sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.51, for a total value of $1,550,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,300 shares in the company, valued at $2,581,083. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Matthew Shair sold 37,500 shares of Nuvalent stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.44, for a total value of $2,566,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,612,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,338,831.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Darlene Noci sold 20,000 shares of Nuvalent stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.51, for a total transaction of $1,550,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,300 shares in the company, valued at $2,581,083. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,037,500 shares of company stock worth $75,792,875 over the last three months. Insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nuvalent

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NUVL. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Nuvalent by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new stake in Nuvalent in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Nuvalent in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Nuvalent by 97.2% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nuvalent in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. 97.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nuvalent

Nuvalent, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapies for patients with cancer. Its lead product candidates are NVL-520, a novel ROS1-selective inhibitor to address the clinical challenges of emergent treatment resistance, central nervous system (CNS)-related adverse events, and brain metastases that may limit the use of ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for patients with ROS proto-oncogene 1 (ROS1)-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) which is under the phase 2 portion of the ARROS-1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial; NVL-655, a brain-penetrant ALK-selective inhibitor, to address the clinical challenges of emergent treatment resistance, CNS-related adverse events, and brain metastases that might limit the use of first-, second-, and third-generation ALK inhibitors that is under the phase 2 portion of the ALKOVE-1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial; and NVL-330, a brain-penetrant human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-selective inhibitor designed to treat tumors driven by HER2ex20, brain metastases, and avoiding treatment-limiting adverse events including due to off-target inhibition of wild-type EGFR, which is expected to initiate phase 1 trial.