Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 7.3% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) shot up 7.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $54.34 and last traded at $55.9230. 2,805,151 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 8,959,731 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on MRNA. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 target price on Moderna in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their target price on Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 target price on Moderna and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.60.

Moderna Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $22.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.78 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.36.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) 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 analyst estimates of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The firm’s revenue was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.52) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total value of $2,581,462.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 1,477,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,535,054.80. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,800.16. This represents a 70.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 71,752 shares of company stock worth $3,453,843 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Moderna during the 1st quarter worth $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Moderna by 732.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 10,185 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Moderna by 58.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 8,706 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Moderna by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.