Royal Bank of Canada Increases Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target to $135.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its target price lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.00% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moderna from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.55.

Moderna Trading Down 0.5 %

Moderna stock opened at $125.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.42. The company has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.98 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Moderna has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $142.79.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. The company had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The firm’s revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 544 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.05, for a total transaction of $53,883.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,267 shares in the company, valued at $917,896.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.05, for a total transaction of $53,883.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,896.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 647 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $61,186.79. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,651. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,954 shares of company stock valued at $14,822,576 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moderna by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,058,000 after buying an additional 6,248,623 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter worth $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,341 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,887,000 after purchasing an additional 517,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.