Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyModerna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $46.29 and last traded at $46.1230, with a volume of 4061876 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.00.
Key Stories Impacting Moderna
Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Five‑year follow‑up Phase IIb results for Moderna and Merck’s personalized melanoma vaccine show a large reduction in recurrence/death (~49% risk reduction when combined with Keytruda), supporting the thesis that oncology programs could materially re‑rate Moderna’s growth story. MRNA & MRK’s Personalized Cancer Therapy Delivers Strong 5-Year Data
- Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report the melanoma vaccine showed durable protection at 5 years and that early clinical readouts have driven a rally and momentum toward a 52‑week high — a near‑term positive for sentiment and potential re‑rating if further trials succeed. mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up
- Positive Sentiment: Press coverage highlights promising melanoma vaccine data and positions oncology and personalized medicine as the company’s path to rebuild top‑line growth after the COVID vaccine era. Moderna’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Is Looking Seriously Promising
- Neutral Sentiment: Market context: broader market moves and sector rotation helped magnify Moderna’s stock swings this week; coverage of the rally and technical momentum is mixed with reminders that biotech remains volatile. MarketBeat Week in Review – 01/19 – 01/23
- Negative Sentiment: CEO comments that Moderna will curb investment in new late‑stage infectious‑disease vaccine trials because of growing U.S. anti‑vaccine backlash introduce strategic and political risk — potentially capping near‑term vaccine revenue upside and raising uncertainty about the company’s vaccine pipeline plans. Moderna curbing investments in vaccine trials due to US backlash, CEO tells Bloomberg TV
- Negative Sentiment: Coverage emphasizes the “pullback” from new vaccine trials and rising anti‑vax sentiment as a drag on the company’s ability to monetize respiratory vaccines going forward — a catalyst that can offset optimism from oncology data and prompt profit‑taking. Anti-vaccine sentiment pushes Moderna away from new late-stage infectious disease trials
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
MRNA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their price target on Moderna from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.36.
View Our Latest Research Report on MRNA
Moderna Price Performance
The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.68. The firm has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.04 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) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. Analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna
In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,679.52. This trade represents a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $94,910,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 364.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,869,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,163,000 after buying an additional 2,251,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,690 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Moderna by 20.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,101,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $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.
Moderna Company Profile
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.