Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Trading Up 8.2% – What’s Next?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price was up 8.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.50 and last traded at $45.05. Approximately 8,832,196 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 12,567,502 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MRNA. UBS Group lowered their target price on Moderna from $108.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Argus lowered Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.26.

Moderna Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.87 and a 200-day moving average of $62.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The stock has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.05 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.39) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Moderna by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in Moderna by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 16,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moderna by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 258,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,743,000 after buying an additional 142,280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.