Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) President Stephen Hoge Sells 53,336 Shares

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total value of $2,581,462.40. Following the transaction, the president owned 1,477,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,535,054.80. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Stephen Hoge also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, February 23rd, Stephen Hoge sold 160,009 shares of Moderna stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.84, for a total value of $7,814,839.56.

Moderna Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ MRNA traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.11. 5,000,616 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,772,490. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.96. Moderna, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $59.55. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The business had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.52) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MRNA. UBS Group raised their target price on Moderna from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price objective on Moderna and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore set a $35.00 price objective on Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $35.73.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 399,487 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 15.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,223,000 after buying an additional 1,115,131 shares during the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.5% during the third quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 8,068,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,417,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 7.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.