Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Rating)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after SVB Leerink raised their price target on the stock from $102.00 to $111.00. The stock had previously closed at $190.69, but opened at $204.44. SVB Leerink currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Moderna shares last traded at $204.47, with a volume of 95,978 shares traded.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MRNA. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Moderna from $290.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Moderna from $160.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Moderna from $185.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Moderna from $214.00 to $217.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 10,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.57, for a total value of $1,885,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,257,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,641,901.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 10,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.57, for a total transaction of $1,885,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,257,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $425,641,901.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephane Bancel sold 40,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.51, for a total value of $5,700,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,411,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $771,256,424.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 445,899 shares of company stock valued at $77,600,886. Company insiders own 17.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 89.9% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,443,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $761,934,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,035 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 0.3% during the second quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 6,354,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,727,000 after purchasing an additional 17,466 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 108.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,818,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $657,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984,458 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Moderna by 0.6% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,503,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,483,000 after acquiring an additional 20,416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in Moderna by 0.9% during the second quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 3,026,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,314,000 after acquiring an additional 26,863 shares in the last quarter. 63.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Trading Down 3.4 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.71.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The company reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.04 by ($0.51). The business had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Moderna had a return on equity of 70.03% and a net margin of 55.00%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post 21.16 earnings per share for the current year.

About Moderna

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Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and auto-immune diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, flu, respiratory syncytial virus, Endemic HCoV, and hMPV+PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus, and varicella-zoster virus vaccines; and public health vaccines consists of Zika and Nipah vaccines.