Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Given “Hold” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

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

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, April 1st. HSBC reiterated a reduce rating and set a $86.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, February 26th. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $129.55.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $125.00. The stock had a trading volume of 4,513,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,445,723. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $105.05 and a 200-day moving average of $94.37. The firm has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.98 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $62.55 and a fifty-two week high of $142.79.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.59) by $0.52. The business 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 company’s revenue was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total value of $1,663,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,026,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $224,827,186.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 2,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total value of $225,833.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,515,898 shares in the company, valued at $143,358,473.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total value of $1,663,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,026,931 shares in the company, valued at $224,827,186.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,954 shares of company stock valued at $14,822,576 over the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moderna by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,058,000 after purchasing an additional 6,248,623 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Moderna by 77.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,341 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Moderna by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.