Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Down 8.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price traded down 8.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $108.00 to $96.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Moderna traded as low as $43.24 and last traded at $43.28. 7,908,741 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 9,949,428 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.53.

MRNA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Moderna in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.83.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210 in the last three months. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 112.1% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 30,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,650,000 after acquiring an additional 16,243 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Moderna during the second quarter worth $900,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 12,118.2% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Down 9.2 %

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 50 day moving average price of $43.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.42 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. Moderna’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.39) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.3 EPS for the current year.

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.