Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Dropped to Market Perform by William Blair

Key Points

• William Blair downgraded Moderna from “outperform” to “market perform.” Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “hold” rating and an average price target of $107.10.
• Moderna shares opened at $198.85, near the upper end of their $22.28–$254.48 52-week range, despite the company remaining unprofitable and analysts forecasting a full-year loss of $6.11 per share.
• The company’s cancer-vaccine partnership with Merck remains a major potential catalyst, but recent insider selling—including $33.9 million of stock over 90 days—could weigh on investor sentiment.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at William Blair from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on MRNA. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Argus raised Moderna from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $230.00 price target (up from $167.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $107.10.

Moderna Price Performance

MRNA stock opened at $198.85 on Tuesday. Moderna has a 52-week low of $22.28 and a 52-week high of $254.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $173.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.87. The stock has a market cap of $79.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.89 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. Moderna's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($2.13) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jamey Mock sold 34,836 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $4,685,093.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,375 shares in the company, valued at $7,985,343.75. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,294 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.13, for a total transaction of $5,807,574.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 1,525,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $219,921,913.54. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 197,251 shares of company stock worth $33,875,904 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at approximately $161,642,545. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 1st quarter worth about $899,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter valued at $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1,387.6% in the second quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 22,590 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 2,042.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 72,591 shares of the company's stock worth $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 69,203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial met its primary endpoint. Adding intismeran to Merck’s Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 42% versus Keytruda alone; the combination also reduced distant metastasis or death by 38%. The vaccine’s delayed improvement after six months could support the case for a durable immune response. Merck and Moderna’s Cancer Vaccine Worked—Who Gets Paid?
• Positive Sentiment: The melanoma program could become a major revenue source for Moderna if approved. Analysts cited in the coverage estimate peak annual melanoma sales of approximately $5.4 billion, with Moderna and Merck sharing development costs and profits equally. Regulatory filing timing and manufacturing plans are now key catalysts. Moderna and Merck’s Promising Skin Cancer Vaccine
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are looking ahead to Moderna’s next earnings report for updates on losses, declining COVID revenue, product launches and the broader pipeline. The company remains unprofitable, making progress toward commercializing newer products especially important. What to Expect From Moderna’s Next Earnings Report
• Negative Sentiment: The Phase 3 benefit was below the roughly 49% recurrence reduction from the earlier study and below what investors had priced in. The resulting selloff suggests the stock’s valuation—largely based on future cancer-vaccine revenue—left little room for disappointment. Commercial execution is also unproven because each vaccine is individually manufactured for a patient. Moderna’s Rally May Have Run Out of Steam

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can stimulate immune responses or support the treatment of disease. The company's research programs span infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions and other therapeutic areas.

Moderna's commercial products include Spikevax, an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, and mRESVIA, an mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.