Analysts Set Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) PT at $38.27

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.2667.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Moderna from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $562,637.58. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,800.16. The trade was a 70.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 125,088 shares of company stock valued at $6,193,713 in the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $271,000. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 9.4% during the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 6,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 114,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,990,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Barry Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth about $227,000. Finally, 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. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $61.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.59 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.87 and a 200 day moving average of $50.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Moderna has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $85.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($2.52) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna will post -6.41 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.