Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Moderna Call Options (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 179,268 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 97,935 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered Moderna from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $111.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res raised Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Moderna from $70.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.58.

Moderna Stock Up 8.3 %

MRNA stock traded up $2.73 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.72. The company had a trading volume of 18,950,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,056,006. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The company has a market capitalization of $13.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.14 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.82. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $29.25 and a fifty-two week high of $170.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC raised its position in Moderna by 91.1% in the 3rd quarter. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC now owns 51,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,435,000 after purchasing an additional 24,505 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,550,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 341.3% during the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 49,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after acquiring an additional 38,400 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,885,000 after acquiring an additional 167,596 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 315,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,842,000 after acquiring an additional 69,360 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.