Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 82,926 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 56,194 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRNA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Berenberg Bank began coverage on Moderna in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note 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 research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.00.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA stock traded up $2.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.20. 8,884,473 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,819,075. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.65. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Moderna has a 12-month low of $35.80 and a 12-month high of $170.47. The company has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a PE ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 1.69.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted ($1.39) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This trade represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in Moderna by 1.7% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 5,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 21.6% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 2.0% in the second quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 5,546 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.1% in the second quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.1% in the second quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,826,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 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.