Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.2667.

Several equities analysts have commented on MRNA shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Moderna from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total transaction of $2,739,870.32. Following the sale, the president directly owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,225,271.76. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $173,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,373,400. The trade was a 4.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,088 shares of company stock worth $6,193,713. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,226,335,000 after purchasing an additional 399,487 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter worth approximately $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after buying an additional 1,115,131 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP boosted its stake in Moderna by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,100,000 after buying an additional 626,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,621,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,290,000 after buying an additional 309,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $63.15 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $57.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.73. Moderna has a 52-week low of $22.28 and a 52-week high of $85.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 0.94.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The company had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.37 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($2.52) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -6.48 EPS for the current year.

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.