Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Up 7.1% – Here’s What Happened

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) rose 7.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $36.92 and last traded at $36.2340. Approximately 4,058,034 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 10,444,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRNA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, January 5th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $30.36.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on MRNA

Moderna Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.12. The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.88 and a beta of 1.17.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.03 earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $703,186.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at $115,679.52. The trade was a 85.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $94,910,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Moderna by 364.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,869,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,163,000 after purchasing an additional 2,251,497 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 19.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,690 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312,192 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,101,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,917,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

(Get Free Report)

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.

See Also