Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their hold rating on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MRNA. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $214.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. William Blair reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $134.02.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $118.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s fifty day moving average is $134.13 and its 200 day moving average is $111.72. Moderna has a 52 week low of $62.55 and a 52 week high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($3.59) by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $167.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total transaction of $1,908,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,284,015 shares in the company, valued at $290,572,388.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Moderna news, President Stephen Hoge sold 255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.96, for a total transaction of $30,844.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,486,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,808,007.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.22, for a total transaction of $1,908,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,284,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $290,572,388.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 411,255 shares of company stock worth $56,118,931 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 15.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,159,769,000 after purchasing an additional 5,129,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after buying an additional 1,614,460 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Moderna by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after buying an additional 1,690,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Moderna by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,648,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,743,000 after buying an additional 18,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moderna in the 4th quarter worth $347,565,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.