Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Lowered to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $90.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $125.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on MRNA. UBS Group raised their price target on Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Moderna from $204.00 to $178.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $122.79.

Moderna Stock Performance

Moderna stock traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $82.30. The stock had a trading volume of 5,116,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,162,379. Moderna has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The company has a market capitalization of $31.54 billion, a PE ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $126.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.99. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The company’s revenue was down 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($3.62) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.68, for a total transaction of $1,825,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,011,931 shares in the company, valued at $244,811,764.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 689 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.24, for a total value of $81,467.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,486.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.68, for a total transaction of $1,825,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,011,931 shares in the company, valued at $244,811,764.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 396,239 shares of company stock valued at $55,563,937. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 66.2% during the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moderna by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,160,000 after buying an additional 946 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at about $900,000. Asset Dedication LLC boosted its position in Moderna by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 1,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Moderna by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 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.