Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives $124.21 Average Target Price from Analysts

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $124.21.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MRNA shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada cut Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $82.25 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $118.88 and a 200 day moving average of $114.11. The stock has a market cap of $31.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Moderna has a 12 month low of $62.55 and a 12 month high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.41 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($3.62) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 202,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.34, for a total transaction of $30,088,098.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,528,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $226,746,145.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 202,832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.34, for a total transaction of $30,088,098.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,528,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,746,145.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.12, for a total transaction of $1,816,800.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,442,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,665,819.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,238 shares of company stock valued at $51,819,454 over the last quarter. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Moderna by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,372,058,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248,623 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moderna during the fourth quarter worth about $347,565,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,460 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,545,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,724,000 after purchasing an additional 463,960 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Capital Management Company LP bought a new stake in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,150,000. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.