Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Trading Up 4.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) were up 4.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.50 and last traded at $41.16. Approximately 1,823,836 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 5,115,201 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MRNA shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer cut Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.50.

Moderna Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.92 and a beta of 1.58.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.39) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $158,195 in the last quarter. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moderna by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 379,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,359,000 after buying an additional 15,218 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 16,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 287,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Moderna by 23.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 131,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,787,000 after buying an additional 25,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moderna by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,069,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,670,000 after buying an additional 178,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.