Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Down 8.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price traded down 8.9% during 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 were traded 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.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Leerink Partners reduced their target price on Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value 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. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 91.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC now owns 51,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,435,000 after acquiring an additional 24,505 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,550,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 341.3% during the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 49,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 38,400 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 11.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,885,000 after purchasing an additional 167,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Moderna by 148.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 116,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,758,000 after purchasing an additional 69,313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of -7.40 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

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