UBS Group Trims Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Target Price to $108.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at UBS Group from $140.00 to $108.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 104.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on MRNA. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.65.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA traded down $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $52.80. The stock had a trading volume of 1,869,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,330,442. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.55. Moderna has a 52 week low of $52.53 and a 52 week high of $170.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a PE ratio of -3.37 and a beta of 1.66.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($3.62) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moderna by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,159,769,000 after acquiring an additional 5,129,800 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 42.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,545,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,724,000 after acquiring an additional 463,960 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 156.9% during the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 741,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,044,000 after purchasing an additional 453,004 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 10,687.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 319,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,353,000 after buying an additional 316,552 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Moderna by 1,212.9% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 330,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,251,000 after purchasing an additional 305,609 shares during the period. 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.