Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 7.3% – Still a Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price rose 7.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $54.34 and last traded at $55.9230. Approximately 2,805,151 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 8,959,731 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRNA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore set a $35.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Moderna from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.60.

Moderna Trading Up 6.6%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.67 and a 200-day moving average of $44.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a market capitalization of $22.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.78 and a beta of 1.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($2.52) earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,066 shares in the company, valued at $562,637.58. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the president owned 1,477,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,535,054.80. This represents a 3.48% 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 have sold 71,752 shares of company stock valued at $3,453,843 in the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 399,487 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in Moderna in the 4th quarter worth about $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Moderna by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,131 shares in the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 8,068,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,417,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,621,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,290,000 after buying an additional 309,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.