Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Raised to Buy at HSBC

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $58.00 target price on the stock. HSBC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 57.39% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Moderna from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.89.

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $36.85 on Monday. Moderna has a 12 month low of $35.80 and a 12 month high of $170.47. The stock has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.33 and a beta of 1.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $58.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.78. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.39) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was 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. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 3,148 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 307.7% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 13,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 9,931 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth $398,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth $167,000. 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.