Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $95.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 50.09% from the company’s current price.

MRNA has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America raised Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Argus upgraded Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 28th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Bradesco Corretora upgraded shares of Moderna to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.17.

Get Our Latest Research Report on MRNA

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA traded up $2.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $190.35. 4,048,468 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,964,873. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $75.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.93 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $131.05 and a 200 day moving average of $81.90. Moderna has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $212.22.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. Moderna’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.13) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moderna will post -6.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jamey Mock sold 34,836 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total transaction of $4,685,093.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,985,343.75. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.07, for a total value of $5,883,845.67. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,562,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $228,165,576.03. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 118,882 shares of company stock valued at $16,862,280 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.6% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 3,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Moderna by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Moderna by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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 help prevent or treat disease, supporting the company’s work across infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions, and cardiovascular diseases.

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.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Receive News & Ratings for Moderna Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Moderna and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.