Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Lowered to Underweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $70.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $88.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MRNA. Oppenheimer downgraded Moderna from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. William Blair reissued a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Moderna from $204.00 to $178.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Moderna from a sell rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $108.53.

Moderna Stock Performance

MRNA opened at $68.28 on Friday. Moderna has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 3.92 and a current ratio of 4.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.68.

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

Insider Activity at Moderna

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

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