Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA opened at $39.51 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.79 and a beta of 1.69. 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 has a 52-week low of $35.80 and a 52-week high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.39) EPS. Moderna’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170. Corporate insiders own 15.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in Moderna by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 287,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,239,000 after buying an additional 3,978 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Moderna by 23.7% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 131,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,787,000 after purchasing an additional 25,177 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,069,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,670,000 after purchasing an additional 178,115 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 21,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 4,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 114,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.