Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by analysts at Piper Sandler in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $69.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $115.00. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 77.24% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on MRNA. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Friday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Moderna from $70.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Moderna Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of MRNA traded up $2.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $38.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,718,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,722,410. The firm has a market cap of $14.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.70 and a beta of 1.69. Moderna has a 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $58.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.68.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.39) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total value of $104,874.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,754. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter worth $26,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter worth $33,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter worth $36,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Moderna by 230.4% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by 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.