Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target to $135.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moderna from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday. William Blair reissued a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, April 1st. HSBC reissued a reduce rating and issued a $86.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $129.55.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock traded down $2.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $122.13. 3,948,735 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,142,523. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.48. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $62.55 and a fifty-two week high of $142.79.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($3.59) by $0.52. The business had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 647 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $61,186.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $406,651. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 2,388 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $225,833.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,515,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,358,473.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 647 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total value of $61,186.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $406,651. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,954 shares of company stock worth $14,822,576 in the last three months. 15.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Moderna by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 186,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,247,000 after acquiring an additional 31,423 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moderna during the 3rd quarter valued at about $312,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 160,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,547,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 88.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 2,880 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its holdings in Moderna by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 2,126 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.