Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Raised to “Buy” at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $58.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MRNA. Leerink Partners cut their price target on Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer cut shares of Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $70.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Moderna in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Moderna Stock Up 4.0 %

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $38.40 on Monday. Moderna has a 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year high of $170.47. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.05. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

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, beating 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 period last year, the business earned ($1.39) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,754. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in Moderna by 230.4% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.