Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $69.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $115.00.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. HSBC raised shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $38.40 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.05. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 1.69. Moderna has a 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year high of $170.47. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.39) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at $571,440.60. This trade represents a 7.00 % 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. Insiders have sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170 over the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,847,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,125,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,276 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Moderna by 21.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,224,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,166,000 after buying an additional 906,114 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in Moderna during the third quarter valued at $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 10,687.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 319,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,353,000 after acquiring an additional 316,552 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Capital Management Company LP raised its position in shares of Moderna by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 730,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,789,000 after acquiring an additional 276,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.