Morgan Stanley Lowers Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target to $38.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $38.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.56% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Argus downgraded shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Berenberg Bank started coverage on Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.58.

Moderna Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $33.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.99 billion, a PE ratio of -5.80 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 has a 12-month low of $31.94 and a 12-month high of $170.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.11 and a 200-day moving average of $67.32.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 12,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Moderna by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 11,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 4,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of Moderna by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 3,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.