Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $52.77 and last traded at $53.04, with a volume of 805110 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRNA. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Moderna from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their target price on Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.18.

Moderna Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.90. The company has a market cap of $20.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.92.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 21.35% and a negative net margin of 116.18%. The business had revenue of $241.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($3.62) EPS. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total value of $1,799,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,224,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,792,839.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total transaction of $1,799,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,224,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $266,792,839.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,184 shares of company stock worth $2,037,931 over the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moderna by 45.0% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors 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.