Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) PT Lowered to $48.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Leerink Partners from $60.00 to $48.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has an “underperform” rating on the stock. Leerink Partners’ price target suggests a potential downside of 34.09% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Moderna from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $70.00 in a report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Moderna from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.44.

Moderna Stock Performance

MRNA stock traded up $3.66 on Tuesday, hitting $72.83. The company had a trading volume of 4,631,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,241,642. Moderna has a 12-month low of $62.55 and a 12-month high of $170.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.72. The stock has a market cap of $27.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.65 and a beta of 1.67.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.41 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The company’s revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($3.62) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moderna will post -9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total value of $104,874.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,754. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 689 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.24, for a total value of $81,467.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $859,486.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,158 shares of company stock valued at $11,167,312. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Moderna during the fourth quarter worth $1,358,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moderna during the fourth quarter worth $664,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Moderna by 22.1% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,519,000 after acquiring an additional 9,360 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Moderna during the first quarter worth $3,315,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Moderna by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614,460 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.