Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Earns “Market Perform” Rating from William Blair

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by analysts at William Blair in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, RTT News reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $214.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.02.

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $118.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $45.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.58 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $134.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.72. Moderna has a 12-month low of $62.55 and a 12-month high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. The company had revenue of $167.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 115.82% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. Research analysts expect that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total value of $1,908,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,284,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $290,572,388.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total transaction of $1,908,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,284,015 shares in the company, valued at $290,572,388.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 5,178 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.09, for a total transaction of $766,810.02. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,361,591.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 411,255 shares of company stock valued at $56,118,931. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moderna by 6,528.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 387,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,552,000 after buying an additional 381,808 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of Moderna by 477.5% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 483,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,091,000 after buying an additional 399,843 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,358,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth approximately $664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.