Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Climb 3% – Should You Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price rose 3% on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $218.16 and last traded at $214.17. 11,910,226 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 6% from the average session volume of 12,682,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $207.97.

More Moderna News

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MRNA shares. Argus upgraded shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Moderna from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Six 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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 firm has a market capitalization of $88.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.75 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.58.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) 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 firm had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($2.13) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,294 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.13, for a total transaction of $5,807,574.22. Following the sale, the president owned 1,525,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,921,913.54. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total value of $485,766.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 74,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,374,353.55. This represents a 4.47% 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 197,251 shares of company stock worth $33,875,904 in the last quarter. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $564,272,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,461,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,384,000 after purchasing an additional 103,977 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,392,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,549,000 after purchasing an additional 891,072 shares during the period. Finally, Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at approximately $161,642,545. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.