Moderna Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 151,646 call options on the company. This is an increase of 74% compared to the average daily volume of 87,062 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Moderna by 295.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Moderna by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its position in Moderna by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 123,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MRNA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Moderna from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Moderna in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.61.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $26.67 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.16. Moderna has a one year low of $23.15 and a one year high of $145.74. The company has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.87 and a beta of 1.86.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.