The Goldman Sachs Group Downgrades Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) to Neutral

The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $51.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $99.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Argus lowered Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Moderna from $70.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.26.

Moderna Trading Down 9.4 %

Shares of MRNA opened at $40.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. Moderna has a 12 month low of $31.94 and a 12 month high of $170.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.03.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.39) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210 in the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Axiom Advisory LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position 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 stake in shares of Moderna by 5.4% in the third quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 4,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 7.9% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 3,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 25.7% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 262 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.