Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 2,749,010 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the previous session’s volume of 5,247,541 shares.The stock last traded at $47.40 and had previously closed at $42.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MRNA shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on Moderna from $108.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.83.

Moderna Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $16.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.42 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,847,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,125,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823,276 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 21.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,224,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,166,000 after purchasing an additional 906,114 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in Moderna in the 3rd quarter worth about $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Moderna by 10,687.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 319,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,353,000 after acquiring an additional 316,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 62.9% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 773,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,175,000 after purchasing an additional 298,715 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.