Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 127,231 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 86% compared to the average volume of 68,321 put options.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,379 shares of company stock valued at $158,195. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth $48,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 230.4% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Moderna by 1,753.1% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Moderna in the second quarter valued at $75,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of MRNA stock traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.13. 4,818,562 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,128,416. Moderna has a fifty-two week low of $35.80 and a fifty-two week high of $170.47. The stock's 50 day moving average is $45.10 and its 200-day moving average is $77.29. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $15.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.90 and a beta of 1.59.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.39) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MRNA shares. 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 research report on Monday, September 16th. Argus cut shares of Moderna from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.50.

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.