Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 5.8% – Here’s What Happened

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price traded up 5.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $62.73 and last traded at $62.7680. 1,229,279 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 9,128,997 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MRNA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Moderna from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $36.60.

Moderna Trading Up 4.2%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.63. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a PE ratio of -7.59 and a beta of 1.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($2.52) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total transaction of $2,739,870.32. Following the sale, the president owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at $76,225,271.76. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the sale, the director owned 12,066 shares in the company, valued at $562,637.58. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 125,088 shares of company stock worth $6,193,713. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lingotto Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 498,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,706,000 after purchasing an additional 125,598 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,291,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,085,000 after purchasing an additional 163,031 shares during the period. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter worth about $897,000. Banco Santander S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 215,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,577,000 after purchasing an additional 39,056 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 4th quarter worth approximately $907,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.