Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, April 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer raised Moderna from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $142.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $126.49.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $107.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a current ratio of 3.42. Moderna has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $163.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.52.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $1.33. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 44.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.61 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.90, for a total transaction of $1,558,500.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,516,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,518,945.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.90, for a total value of $1,558,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,516,063 shares in the company, valued at $157,518,945.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 670 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $63,361.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,557 shares in the company, valued at $809,235.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 79,954 shares of company stock valued at $8,359,676 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV bought a new position in Moderna during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moderna by 79.1% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 4,833.3% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.