Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Given “Overweight” Rating at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler restated their overweight rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $214.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Moderna from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $134.02.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA opened at $121.18 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $133.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a current ratio of 4.03. Moderna has a twelve month low of $62.55 and a twelve month high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.59) by $0.52. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The company had revenue of $167.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna will post -7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total transaction of $1,575,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,486,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $156,085,029.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total transaction of $1,575,300.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,486,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $156,085,029.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 202,832 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.34, for a total value of $30,088,098.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,528,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,746,145.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 396,255 shares of company stock worth $54,210,631 in the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 15.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,159,769,000 after purchasing an additional 5,129,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Moderna by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after buying an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Moderna by 0.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,648,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,743,000 after acquiring an additional 18,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the fourth quarter worth about $347,565,000. 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.