Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Upgraded to Buy at HSBC

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was upgraded by investment analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $58.00 price target on the stock. HSBC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 55.54% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on MRNA. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Moderna Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of MRNA opened at $37.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.07. Moderna has a 1-year low of $35.80 and a 1-year high of $170.47. The stock has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.59 and a beta of 1.69.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.39) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170. Company insiders own 15.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 91.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC now owns 51,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,435,000 after buying an additional 24,505 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Moderna by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,885,000 after acquiring an additional 167,596 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Moderna by 148.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 116,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,758,000 after acquiring an additional 69,313 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 56,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 379,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,359,000 after purchasing an additional 15,218 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.