Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 103,958 call options on the company. This is an increase of 42% compared to the typical daily volume of 73,225 call options.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 1.6% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 12,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $847,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in Moderna by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Moderna by 2.2% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 11,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 5.4% in the third quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 4,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on MRNA shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Moderna in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Argus cut shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.83.

Moderna Price Performance

Moderna stock opened at $43.17 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.22 and a 200-day moving average of $70.88. Moderna has a 52-week low of $35.80 and a 52-week high of $170.47. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $16.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.42 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.39) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.3 EPS for the current year.

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.