Piper Sandler Reaffirms “Overweight” Rating for Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $214.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Moderna from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. William Blair reissued a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $134.02.

Moderna Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $118.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.58 and a beta of 1.54. Moderna has a one year low of $62.55 and a one year high of $170.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 4.03 and a quick ratio of 3.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $134.13 and its 200-day moving average is $111.96.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. The company had revenue of $167.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.68, for a total transaction of $1,525,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,086,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $212,199,144.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total transaction of $71,860.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $514,542.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.68, for a total value of $1,525,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,086,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,199,144.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 411,255 shares of company stock valued at $56,118,931 over the last quarter. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ogorek Anthony Joseph NY ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 45.0% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 4,833.3% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 296 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Moderna in the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 953.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 316 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.