Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives $30.36 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.3571.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRNA. UBS Group downgraded shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Moderna from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th.

Moderna Stock Performance

MRNA stock opened at $48.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.04 and a beta of 1.17. Moderna has a 1 year low of $22.28 and a 1 year high of $55.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.81.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Five?year follow?up Phase IIb results for Moderna and Merck’s personalized melanoma vaccine show a large reduction in recurrence/death (~49% risk reduction when combined with Keytruda), supporting the thesis that oncology programs could materially re?rate Moderna’s growth story. MRNA & MRK’s Personalized Cancer Therapy Delivers Strong 5-Year Data
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report the melanoma vaccine showed durable protection at 5 years and that early clinical readouts have driven a rally and momentum toward a 52?week high — a near?term positive for sentiment and potential re?rating if further trials succeed. mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up
• Positive Sentiment: Press coverage highlights promising melanoma vaccine data and positions oncology and personalized medicine as the company’s path to rebuild top?line growth after the COVID vaccine era. Moderna’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Is Looking Seriously Promising
• Neutral Sentiment: Market context: broader market moves and sector rotation helped magnify Moderna’s stock swings this week; coverage of the rally and technical momentum is mixed with reminders that biotech remains volatile. MarketBeat Week in Review – 01/19 – 01/23
• Negative Sentiment: CEO comments that Moderna will curb investment in new late?stage infectious?disease vaccine trials because of growing U.S. anti?vaccine backlash introduce strategic and political risk — potentially capping near?term vaccine revenue upside and raising uncertainty about the company’s vaccine pipeline plans. Moderna curbing investments in vaccine trials due to US backlash, CEO tells Bloomberg TV
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage emphasizes the “pullback” from new vaccine trials and rising anti?vax sentiment as a drag on the company’s ability to monetize respiratory vaccines going forward — a catalyst that can offset optimism from oncology data and prompt profit?taking. Anti-vaccine sentiment pushes Moderna away from new late-stage infectious disease trials

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,679.52. This represents a 85.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.6% during the second quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 14,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Moderna by 0.6% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 65,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its holdings in Moderna by 94.1% in the second quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.