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

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $124.21.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MRNA. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $157.00 price objective (down previously from $214.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $49,274.50. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,471,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $212,671,776.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total value of $49,274.50. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,471,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,671,776.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.57, for a total transaction of $2,363,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,981,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $312,292,867.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 366,238 shares of company stock valued at $51,819,454 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 477.5% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 483,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,091,000 after acquiring an additional 399,843 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter worth $1,358,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter worth $664,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Moderna by 22.1% during 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. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 0.8 %

MRNA stock opened at $82.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.91. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $62.55 and a fifty-two week high of $170.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 1.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $118.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.11.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $241.00 million for 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%. Moderna’s revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($3.62) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -7.46 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.