Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $34.06, but opened at $35.76. Moderna shares last traded at $36.38, with a volume of 2,931,922 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Argus cut shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of Moderna from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HSBC upgraded Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.58.

Moderna Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20.

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

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 in the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 78.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 109,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,031,000 after acquiring an additional 48,316 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Moderna by 297.2% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,998 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moderna by 349.6% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,451 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 66.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 13,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after buying an additional 5,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at about $247,000. 75.33% of the stock is 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.