Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair

William Blair lowered shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

MRNA has been the subject of several other reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered Moderna from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Moderna from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, CLSA upgraded Moderna to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.10.

Moderna Stock Up 4.0%

Moderna stock opened at $222.76 on Tuesday. Moderna has a twelve month low of $22.28 and a twelve month high of $254.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $180.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.58. The company has a market capitalization of $88.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.88 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.13) EPS. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moderna will post -6.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 34,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $4,685,093.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,375 shares in the company, valued at $7,985,343.75. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total transaction of $485,766.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 74,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,374,353.55. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $161,642,545. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth about $899,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth about $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moderna by 1,387.6% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 22,590 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in Moderna by 2,042.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 72,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 69,203 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Moderna News

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine candidate recently produced positive clinical-trial data, renewing investor optimism about a potentially significant oncology business. The upcoming Nov. 6 event or update could provide another near-term catalyst. Will Moderna Soar on Nov. 6?
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Stéphane Bancel defended the melanoma-vaccine results, saying the data should improve over time and that Moderna’s technology may be difficult for competitors to replicate. He also expressed confidence that the platform could work in cancers beyond melanoma. Moderna CEO Cancer Vaccine Commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna’s ESMO presentation highlighted the science behind its oncology pipeline, but investors now want evidence that the program can translate into commercial revenue and improve the company’s financial outlook. Moderna ESMO Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy investor searches for Moderna indicate elevated market interest, but the coverage does not identify a new fundamental development by itself. Investors Heavily Search Moderna
• Negative Sentiment: William Blair lowered Moderna to Market Perform from Outperform, citing valuation concerns after the stock’s strong oncology-driven advance. The downgrade suggests much of the cancer-vaccine optimism may already be reflected in the shares. William Blair Downgrades Moderna
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst lowered the FY2028 EPS estimate, reinforcing concerns about Moderna’s path to profitability and the premium valuation investors are assigning to its future pipeline. Comparisons with GSK emphasize that Moderna offers greater oncology upside but less income and currently higher execution risk. GSK vs. Moderna Growth Comparison

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can stimulate immune responses or support the treatment of disease. The company’s research programs span infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions and other therapeutic areas.

Moderna’s commercial products include Spikevax, an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, and mRESVIA, an mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.