Moderna Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 151,646 call options on the company. This is an increase of 74% compared to the typical daily volume of 87,062 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Moderna in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,049,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 313.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 167,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,745,000 after buying an additional 126,961 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 58.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 8,706 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $26.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of -2.87 and a beta of 1.86. Moderna has a twelve month low of $23.15 and a twelve month high of $145.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.16.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.92) by $0.40. Moderna had a negative net margin of 110.04% and a negative return on equity of 28.74%. The business had revenue of $108.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.35 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($3.07) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 35.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $50.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Moderna from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Moderna in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.61.

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.