Argus Downgrades Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) to Hold

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was downgraded by research analysts at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

MRNA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.50.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $39.56 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.80 and a beta of 1.58. Moderna has a twelve month low of $35.80 and a twelve month high of $170.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.14.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.39) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. This trade represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $158,195 over the last ninety days. 15.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 91.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC now owns 51,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,435,000 after buying an additional 24,505 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,550,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 341.3% during the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 49,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,318,000 after acquiring an additional 38,400 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moderna by 11.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,885,000 after purchasing an additional 167,596 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Moderna by 148.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 116,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,758,000 after purchasing an additional 69,313 shares in 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.