Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 127,398 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 40% compared to the typical daily volume of 91,299 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America dropped their price target on Moderna from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Leerink Partners raised their target price on Moderna from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $29.46.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Moderna by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 8,432 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moderna by 70.7% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 17,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 7,356 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 37,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 10,761 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the first quarter valued at approximately $614,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Up 6.4%

Moderna stock traded up $1.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.12. The stock had a trading volume of 7,693,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,847,976. The stock has a market cap of $10.60 billion, a PE ratio of -3.36 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.97. Moderna has a 52-week low of $22.28 and a 52-week high of $48.92.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $893.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moderna Company Profile

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.