Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Given “Hold” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $214.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $134.02.

Moderna Price Performance

Moderna stock opened at $115.95 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 $44.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.40 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.40. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. Moderna had a negative net margin of 115.82% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total transaction of $71,860.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $514,542.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.47, for a total value of $105,280.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $930,303.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total transaction of $71,860.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $514,542.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 411,255 shares of company stock valued at $56,118,931. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV acquired a new stake in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 4,833.3% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 45.0% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Moderna in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 953.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

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.