Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 8.2% – Still a Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price was up 8.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.50 and last traded at $45.05. Approximately 8,832,196 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 12,567,502 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRNA. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Moderna from $70.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 target price (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.79.

Moderna Stock Up 7.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $17.29 billion, a PE ratio of -7.72 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.79 and its 200 day moving average is $62.18.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. Moderna’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.39) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Moderna by 12.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,847,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,125,899,000 after buying an additional 1,823,276 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Moderna by 21.0% in the 3rd 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 acquired a new stake in Moderna in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 316,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its position in Moderna by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 773,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,175,000 after purchasing an additional 298,715 shares during 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.