Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein

Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective points to a potential downside of 4.28% from the stock’s previous close.

MRNA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Moderna from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Moderna from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $82.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.18.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $57.46 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $71.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.27. Moderna has a twelve month low of $55.70 and a twelve month high of $170.47. The stock has a market cap of $22.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.67 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 3.92, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 21.35% and a negative net margin of 116.18%. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($3.62) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total transaction of $1,799,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,224,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $266,792,839.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.96, for a total transaction of $1,799,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,224,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $266,792,839.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $42,985.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $571,440.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,184 shares of company stock worth $3,804,931 over the last ninety days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the third quarter worth $301,000. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 15.8% in the third quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 4,844 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 97.4% in the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 4,937 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 148.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 116,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,758,000 after purchasing an additional 69,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 149.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 85,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,687,000 after purchasing an additional 51,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.