Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

MRNA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Moderna from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.36.

Moderna Trading Up 6.3%

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $41.83 on Friday. Moderna has a twelve month low of $22.28 and a twelve month high of $45.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a PE ratio of -5.18 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.22.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The business’s revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at $115,679.52. This trade represents a 85.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 94.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Moderna by 348.8% in the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 743 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Whittier Trust Co. purchased a new position in Moderna during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in Moderna during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.