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 trading hands.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Argus downgraded shares of Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners decreased their price target on Moderna from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moderna has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $843,690.43. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Moderna by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,847,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,125,899,000 after buying an additional 1,823,276 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moderna by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,069,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,670,000 after acquiring an additional 178,115 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Moderna by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,224,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,166,000 after acquiring an additional 906,114 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 0.5% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,890,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,023,000 after purchasing an additional 19,819 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Moderna by 6.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,073,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,431,000 after purchasing an additional 178,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.64 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. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.18.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 earnings per share 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.