Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $39.36, but opened at $41.60. Moderna shares last traded at $40.9240, with a volume of 3,414,007 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on Moderna from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $30.36.

Moderna Stock Up 7.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $16.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.22 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.12.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 45.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $703,186.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,679.52. This trade represents a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Moderna in the 1st quarter worth about $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 732.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 10,185 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Moderna in the 1st quarter worth approximately $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Moderna by 58.7% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 8,706 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in Moderna by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 83,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.