Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) to Sector Perform

Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $90.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $125.00.

MRNA has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $204.00 to $178.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a buy rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $124.21.

Moderna Stock Up 3.4 %

MRNA stock opened at $84.32 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $125.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.91. Moderna has a 1-year low of $62.55 and a 1-year high of $170.47. The firm has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 1.67.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $241.00 million during 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 for the quarter was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($3.62) EPS. Research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.47, for a total transaction of $105,280.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $930,303.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.08, for a total value of $1,756,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,269,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,656,276.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.47, for a total value of $105,280.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,726 shares in the company, valued at $930,303.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 380,984 shares of company stock worth $53,707,892. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in Moderna by 4,833.3% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 296 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Moderna by 45.0% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

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.