Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $123.79.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MRNA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $96.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 202,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.34, for a total transaction of $30,088,098.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,528,557 shares in the company, valued at $226,746,145.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 315,736 shares of company stock worth $44,061,362 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 worth $266,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,358,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $664,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Moderna by 22.1% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,519,000 after purchasing an additional 9,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Moderna in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,315,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $72.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $102.13 and its 200-day moving average is $112.97. Moderna has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a current ratio of 4.09. The company has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.65 and a beta of 1.67.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The company had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($3.62) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.52 earnings per share 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.