UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price objective reduced by UBS Group from $108.00 to $96.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 115.44% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Moderna in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price 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. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Moderna Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of Moderna stock traded down $2.97 on Wednesday, hitting $44.56. 5,003,054 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,127,264. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20. Moderna has a one year low of $35.80 and a one year high of $170.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.48. The company has a market capitalization of $17.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.66 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.39) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at $26,000. 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 buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 365.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Moderna by 53.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 477.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 941 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.