Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 103,958 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical volume of 73,225 call options.

Moderna Trading Up 11.7 %

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $47.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.17 and a beta of 1.60. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $35.80 and a fifty-two week high of $170.47. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted 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 net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,224,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,166,000 after buying an additional 906,114 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in Moderna in the third quarter worth approximately $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Moderna by 10,687.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted 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 acquiring an additional 178,939 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRNA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.50.

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.