Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Monday . 3,565,164 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 24% from the previous session’s volume of 4,701,348 shares.The stock last traded at $37.86 and had previously closed at $36.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MRNA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday. HSBC upgraded Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Moderna Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.70 and a beta of 1.69. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.68.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.39) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 in the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Moderna by 12.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,847,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,125,899,000 after buying an additional 1,823,276 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 worth $349,166,000 after acquiring an additional 906,114 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $23,825,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moderna by 10,687.1% during the 3rd 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, Matrix Capital Management Company LP lifted its stake in Moderna by 60.8% during the first quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 730,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,789,000 after purchasing an additional 276,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.