Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Research analysts at Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research’s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.55% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MRNA. Bank of America cut their price target on Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Moderna from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.22.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $36.85 on Friday. Moderna has a 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year high of $170.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.88.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.39) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total value of $104,874.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 over the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moderna by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Moderna during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.