Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 128,988 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 50% compared to the average daily volume of 85,938 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210 over the last ninety days. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 53.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 477.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the third quarter worth about $80,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $38.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The company has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of -6.62 and a beta of 1.60. Moderna has a 52-week low of $31.94 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.90.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.39) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.27 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Moderna from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.58.

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.