Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Trading Down 2.9%

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $106.58 and last traded at $107.42. Approximately 1,385,361 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 4,368,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRNA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Moderna from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.82.

Moderna Trading Down 3.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $40.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.66 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.42 and a quick ratio of 3.36.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $1.33. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 44.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 772 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.75, for a total transaction of $84,727.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 3,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $398,612. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 772 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.75, for a total value of $84,727.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 3,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $398,612. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.90, for a total transaction of $1,558,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,516,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,518,945.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,021 shares of company stock valued at $5,211,442. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. RB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 7.5% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 8.0% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 4,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 5.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 987,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,121,000 after purchasing an additional 47,755 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 12.4% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 15,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 41.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 58,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,019,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.