Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Down Following 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.

Several other research analysts have also commented on MRNA. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Moderna from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Moderna from $108.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.26.

Insider Activity

In other 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 owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,823,276 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Moderna by 21.0% during the third 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 period. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in Moderna in the third quarter worth $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moderna by 10,687.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 319,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,353,000 after acquiring an additional 316,552 shares during the period. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 773,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,175,000 after purchasing an additional 298,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a PE ratio of -7.05 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.03. 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 (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 business had revenue of $1.90 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 EPS 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.