Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Downgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to “Hold”

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $65.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $120.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MRNA. HSBC raised shares of Moderna from a reduce rating to a hold rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Moderna from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Moderna from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $103.93.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $69.17 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 1.67. Moderna has a 12 month low of $62.55 and a 12 month high of $170.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.92.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.47) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.41 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($3.62) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total value of $1,908,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,284,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $290,572,388.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 689 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.24, for a total value of $81,467.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,486.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total transaction of $1,908,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,284,015 shares in the company, valued at $290,572,388.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,158 shares of company stock worth $11,167,312 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,672 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,358,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $664,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,519,000 after acquiring an additional 9,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,315,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Company Profile

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.