Royal Bank of Canada Trims Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Target Price to $75.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price target reduced by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $90.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.60% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MRNA. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer downgraded Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Moderna from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Moderna from $204.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Moderna from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.14.

Moderna Stock Down 4.4 %

Moderna stock traded down $3.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.61. 4,436,762 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,193,307. Moderna has a one year low of $62.55 and a one year high of $170.47. The company has a market cap of $25.53 billion, a PE ratio of -4.25 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $96.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.86. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 21.35% and a negative net margin of 116.18%. The business had revenue of $241.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($3.62) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.52 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 689 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.24, for a total value of $81,467.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,269 shares in the company, valued at $859,486.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 689 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.24, for a total value of $81,467.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 7,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $859,486.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $682,754. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 108,158 shares of company stock worth $13,239,712. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moderna during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,140,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 283,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,714,000 after acquiring an additional 11,828 shares in the last quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,372,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $524,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 7.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 18,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.