Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twenty analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $33.8667.

MRNA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Moderna and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Moderna Trading Up 4.0%

MRNA opened at $52.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.17 and a beta of 1.33. Moderna has a 12 month low of $22.28 and a 12 month high of $59.55. The company has a current ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.15 and a 200 day moving average of $36.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The company reported ($2.11) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.79) by $0.68. The company had revenue of $678.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.14 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 30.15% and a negative net margin of 145.16%.The firm’s revenue was down 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.91) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Moderna news, President Stephen Hoge sold 160,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.84, for a total transaction of $7,814,839.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 1,457,427 shares in the company, valued at $71,180,734.68. The trade was a 9.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moderna in the second quarter worth about $94,910,000. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Moderna in the third quarter worth about $1,244,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Moderna during the third quarter worth $2,351,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Moderna by 600.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 92,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,566,000 after buying an additional 79,726 shares during the period. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Moderna by 21.3% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,128,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,147,000 after buying an additional 198,269 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Company Profile

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.