Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Given Outperform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $125.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.16% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Moderna from $93.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, November 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.82.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA traded down $3.90 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $106.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,627,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,371,825. The stock has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.66 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.42 and a quick ratio of 3.36. Moderna has a 12 month low of $62.55 and a 12 month high of $163.24.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $1.33. The company had revenue of $2.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.90, for a total transaction of $1,558,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,516,063 shares in the company, valued at $157,518,945.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.90, for a total transaction of $1,558,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,516,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,518,945.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 772 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.75, for a total value of $84,727.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $398,612. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,021 shares of company stock worth $5,211,442 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,058,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248,623 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter worth approximately $628,359,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 108.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,818,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $657,720,000 after buying an additional 1,984,458 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after buying an additional 1,690,341 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Moderna by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,460 shares during 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.