Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.1333.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MRNA shares. UBS Group restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Moderna from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,800.16. The trade was a 70.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $173,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,373,400. The trade was a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 119,406 shares of company stock worth $5,928,762 over the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Commerce Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,869,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,013,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $785,000. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at $263,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Trading Up 5.1%

MRNA opened at $63.67 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a PE ratio of -7.97 and a beta of 0.91. Moderna has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $85.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. The company had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.13) earnings per share. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.