Investors Purchase High Volume of Moderna Call Options (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 103,958 call options on the company. This is an increase of 42% compared to the typical volume of 73,225 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. HSBC raised Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.50.

Moderna Stock Up 12.6 %

Shares of MRNA stock traded up $5.37 on Tuesday, hitting $47.94. The stock had a trading volume of 7,861,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,477,841. 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 one year low of $35.80 and a one year high of $170.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.48. The company has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a PE ratio of -8.24 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced 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 firm 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 company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Moderna by 230.4% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moderna by 1,753.1% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 365.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.