Piper Sandler Reiterates Overweight Rating for Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $214.00 price objective on the stock.

MRNA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Moderna from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $134.02.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $121.18 on Thursday. Moderna has a 1-year low of $62.55 and a 1-year high of $170.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.78 and a 200-day moving average of $111.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.59) by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Moderna will post -7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.16, for a total transaction of $2,072,400.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,457,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,311,416.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.16, for a total transaction of $2,072,400.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,457,089 shares in the company, valued at $201,311,416.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 202,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.34, for a total transaction of $30,088,098.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,528,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,746,145.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 396,255 shares of company stock valued at $54,210,631 over the last three months. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,058,000 after purchasing an additional 6,248,623 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Moderna by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after buying an additional 1,690,341 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Moderna by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,584,000 after buying an additional 1,614,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,545,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,724,000 after buying an additional 463,960 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.