Brokerages Set Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target at $79.50

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.50.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer lowered Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Moderna Stock Up 3.1 %

Moderna stock opened at $39.56 on Friday. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $35.80 and a fifty-two week high of $170.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.80 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. Analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This trade represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,379 shares of company stock valued at $158,195. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $48,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 230.4% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 365.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.