Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Up 4.5% - Still a Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) rose 4.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $41.50 and last traded at $41.16. Approximately 1,823,836 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 5,115,201 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MRNA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. 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, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Moderna from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.50.

Moderna Trading Up 5.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.14 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $44.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. Moderna's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares of the company's stock, valued at $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock worth $158,195. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 4.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 379,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,359,000 after acquiring an additional 15,218 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 16,525 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,978 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Moderna by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 131,477 shares of the company's stock worth $8,787,000 after buying an additional 25,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Moderna by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,069,580 shares of the company's stock worth $470,670,000 after buying an additional 178,115 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.