Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $39.77, but opened at $38.55. Moderna shares last traded at $38.25, with a volume of 4,196,039 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MRNA. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Moderna in a research report on Friday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $140.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.22.

Moderna Trading Down 9.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 1.69. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.80.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at $682,754. This represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170. 15.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Moderna by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,159,769,000 after buying an additional 5,129,800 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Moderna by 10,687.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 319,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,353,000 after purchasing an additional 316,552 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moderna by 1,212.9% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 330,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,251,000 after acquiring an additional 305,609 shares during the period. Matrix Capital Management Company LP increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 60.8% in the first quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 730,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,789,000 after purchasing an additional 276,000 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in Moderna by 201.9% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 274,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,567,000 after buying an additional 183,407 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.