Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Analysts at Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.55% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on MRNA. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.22.

Moderna Stock Performance

Moderna stock opened at $36.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.88. 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 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.39) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of Moderna 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. The trade was a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moderna by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Moderna in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.