Brokerages Set Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Target Price at $42.13

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.1333.

A number of analysts have weighed in on MRNA shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Moderna from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Moderna Price Performance

MRNA stock opened at $59.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.31. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.49 and a beta of 0.91. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $22.28 and a fifty-two week high of $85.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($2.13) earnings per share. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $433,878.92. Following the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,800.16. The trade was a 70.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $173,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,400. The trade was a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders sold 119,406 shares of company stock worth $5,928,762 in the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,954,000. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $215,000. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. purchased a new position in Moderna during the second quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth $165,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Company Profile

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.