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

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $134.02.

Moderna Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $115.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, 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 $170.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $134.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.40. The company has a market capitalization of $44.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.40 and a beta of 1.54.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 115.82% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Moderna will post -7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total value of $71,860.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $514,542.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total value of $71,860.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $514,542.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.68, for a total value of $1,525,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,086,931 shares in the company, valued at $212,199,144.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 411,255 shares of company stock worth $56,118,931 over the last ninety days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 45.0% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 953.3% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.