Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Cut to “Hold” at Argus

Argus downgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.50.

Moderna Stock Down 0.4 %

MRNA opened at $39.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The company has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.58. Moderna has a one year low of $35.80 and a one year high of $170.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.38.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock valued at $158,195. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 4.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 379,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,359,000 after buying an additional 15,218 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its position in Moderna by 73.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 16,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 1.4% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 287,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,239,000 after purchasing an additional 3,978 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 23.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 131,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,787,000 after purchasing an additional 25,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,069,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,670,000 after purchasing an additional 178,115 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Moderna

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.