Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Down 8.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price dropped 8.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $108.00 to $96.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Moderna traded as low as $43.24 and last traded at $43.28. Approximately 7,908,741 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 21% from the average daily volume of 9,949,428 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.53.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on MRNA. Barclays lowered their target price on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $843,690.43. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Moderna by 230.4% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 365.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 53.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 477.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 941 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 9.2 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The company has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.42 and a beta of 1.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.39) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current 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.