Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) President Stephen Hoge Sells 160,009 Shares of Stock

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) President Stephen Hoge sold 160,009 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president directly owned 1,457,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,180,734.68. The trade was a 9.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Moderna Stock Up 1.4%

Moderna stock opened at $52.09 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.97. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $20.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.16 and a beta of 1.32. Moderna, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.28 and a twelve month high of $55.20.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter valued at $94,910,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Moderna by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,192 shares in the last quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,244,000. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 918,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,333,000 after purchasing an additional 21,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,351,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MRNA. BMO Capital Markets raised Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 16th. Evercore set a $35.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $31.87.

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.