Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $101.45

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $103.95.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, September 25th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, August 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Moderna from $50.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Brookline Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, CFO Jamey Mock sold 34,836 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $4,685,093.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 59,375 shares in the company, valued at $7,985,343.75. This trade represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 39,145 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.72, for a total transaction of $8,640,084.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,636,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $361,222,626.80. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904 in the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at $564,272,000. Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at $161,642,545. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at $139,317,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth about $119,168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $200.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.04 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $172.79 and its 200 day moving average is $96.96. Moderna has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $254.48.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.13) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck reported positive Phase 3 INTerpath-001 results for the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, used with Keytruda. The treatment reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 42%, while also improving distant metastasis-free survival. Oncologists described the findings as a major advance in melanoma care. Nature article
• Positive Sentiment: The results strengthen the case for Moderna’s oncology pipeline and could support a major future revenue stream beyond COVID-19 vaccines, particularly if additional trials demonstrate benefits in other cancers. Moderna has also advanced its mRNA bird-flu vaccine into a late-stage trial, adding another potential pipeline catalyst. Bird flu vaccine trial article
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna’s recent addition to the Nasdaq-100 and analyst support provide structural and sentiment benefits, but these factors have less immediate influence than the cancer-vaccine readout. The stock had already posted an exceptionally strong rally, leaving the valuation highly sensitive to new clinical information. Nasdaq-100 inclusion article
• Negative Sentiment: Partial trial data appeared on social media ahead of Moderna and Merck’s planned ESMO presentation, triggering extreme volatility and a sharp selloff. The premature release disrupted the expected news event and encouraged a “sell-the-news” reaction. CNBC data leak article
• Negative Sentiment: Although clinically meaningful, the 42% reduction fell short of the market’s very high expectations after Moderna’s dramatic run-up. Investors also questioned whether the results will translate beyond melanoma, how quickly the product could reach the market, and its eventual commercial opportunity. The breach of near-term technical support and heightened trading swings add further pressure. Zacks analysis

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can stimulate immune responses or support the treatment of disease. The company’s research programs span infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions and other therapeutic areas.

Moderna’s commercial products include Spikevax, an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, and mRESVIA, an mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.