Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a neutral rating. The stock had previously closed at $44.94, but opened at $43.28. The Goldman Sachs Group now has a $51.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $99.00. Moderna shares last traded at $44.10, with a volume of 2,069,840 shares traded.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MRNA. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Leerink Partners cut their price objective on Moderna from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.26.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 295.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Moderna by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 311.2% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 1,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 53.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 9.4 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.67 billion, a PE ratio of -7.00 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.39) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.