Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Earns Market Perform Rating from Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. HSBC raised shares of Moderna from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.18.

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $54.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.92. The firm has a market cap of $20.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.45 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.57. Moderna has a 1-year low of $53.55 and a 1-year high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.41 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($3.62) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total value of $1,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,224,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $266,792,839.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total value of $1,799,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,224,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $266,792,839.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,184 shares of company stock valued at $3,804,931 over the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 45.0% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. 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.