Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Climb 4% – Time to Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price rose 4% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $225.00 and last traded at $222.76. 10,701,369 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 12,678,758 shares. The stock had previously closed at $214.16.

Moderna News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna’s personalized cancer-vaccine candidate remains a key potential catalyst. Recent clinical data have encouraged investors, and Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel defended the melanoma results, saying the data could improve over time and that competitors may not easily replicate the company’s technology. Will Moderna Soar on Nov. 6? Moderna’s CEO discusses its cancer vaccine
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage comparing Moderna with BioNTech highlights the company’s oncology platform and its potential role in the growing mRNA cancer-vaccine market. Successful follow-up data could support Moderna’s long-term growth narrative. Moderna cancer results versus BioNTech
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention is elevated ahead of Moderna’s quarterly earnings release. The report may provide updated financial guidance and more information about the company’s pipeline, but heavy searches alone do not change the underlying outlook. Moderna projected to announce quarterly earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts expect Moderna’s third-quarter earnings to decline, and Zacks says the company lacks the combination of factors typically associated with a likely earnings beat. That is weighing on expectations ahead of the report. Moderna Q3 earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: William Blair lowered Moderna to Market Perform, while an analyst also reduced the company’s fiscal 2028 EPS estimate. The actions reinforce concerns about the premium valuation, limited near-term earnings visibility and the time required for oncology programs to mature. Moderna rating lowered to Market Perform Moderna FY2028 EPS estimate lowered

Analyst Ratings Changes

MRNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore lifted their target price on Moderna from $50.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. William Blair downgraded shares of Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (up from $167.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Singular Research upgraded shares of Moderna to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.10.

Moderna Stock Down 0.5%

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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $182.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.52. The firm has a market cap of $88.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.75 and a beta of 1.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.13) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total value of $485,766.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 74,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,374,353.55. This represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 34,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $4,685,093.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,985,343.75. This represents a 36.98% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter valued at $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth about $564,272,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Moderna by 4.4% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,461,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,384,000 after acquiring an additional 103,977 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,392,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,549,000 after acquiring an additional 891,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $161,642,545. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

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.