Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target Raised to $34.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its target price boosted by analysts at Bank of America from $32.00 to $34.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underperform” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 29.92% from the company’s previous close.

MRNA has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Evercore set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $36.60.

Moderna Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA traded up $1.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $48.52. 1,329,447 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,158,778. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a PE ratio of -5.97 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.31. Moderna has a 12-month low of $22.28 and a 12-month high of $59.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.52) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -6.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total transaction of $2,581,462.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 1,477,997 shares in the company, valued at $71,535,054.80. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total transaction of $264,951.66. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $562,637.58. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 68,281 shares of company stock worth $3,280,293 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth about $378,299,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth about $95,209,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth about $79,707,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 15.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 123.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,788,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,775,000 after purchasing an additional 987,312 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.