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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a buy rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler restated an overweight rating and issued a $214.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Moderna from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an in-line rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $125.29.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $86.58 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $129.81 and a 200 day moving average of $115.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.53 and a beta of 1.67. Moderna has a 1 year low of $62.55 and a 1 year high of $170.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.91.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.47) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $241.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.41 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 21.35% and a negative net margin of 116.18%. The company’s revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($3.62) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Moderna will post -7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.08, for a total transaction of $1,756,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,269,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,656,276.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 255 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.96, for a total transaction of $30,844.80. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,486,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,808,007.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.08, for a total transaction of $1,756,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,269,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,656,276.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 396,239 shares of company stock worth $55,563,937 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Moderna by 45.0% in 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. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its position in Moderna by 1.7% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 5,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in Moderna by 21.6% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Moderna by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in shares of Moderna by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 4,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.