Moderna Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 128,500 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 157% compared to the average volume of 49,924 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moderna from $70.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays dropped their target price on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 over the last quarter. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Moderna by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at $225,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Moderna by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 84,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,048,000 after purchasing an additional 11,977 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Moderna by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 23,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 3,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 53.3% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Stock Down 6.1 %

Shares of Moderna stock traded down $2.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,043,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,609,926. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.80. The company has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 1.69. Moderna has a 52 week low of $37.34 and a 52 week high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.39) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.