The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Positive Forecast for Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs raised its Moderna price target from $137 to $195 but kept a neutral rating; the new target implied 29.8% downside from the prior close.
• Analysts overall remained cautious: MarketBeat reported a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $113.75, with 6 Buy, 15 Hold, and 4 Sell ratings.
• Moderna shares rose 9.3% to $277.76 on Monday. In its latest quarter, the company reported $0.38 earnings per share versus estimates for a $1.10 loss, while revenue increased 29.2% year over year to $1.31 billion.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $137.00 to $195.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's target price points to a potential downside of 29.80% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moderna from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Singular Research upgraded shares of Moderna to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $113.75.

Moderna Stock Up 9.3%

NASDAQ:MRNA traded up $23.57 on Monday, hitting $277.76. The stock had a trading volume of 6,751,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,623,705. The business's fifty day moving average is $191.85 and its 200 day moving average is $91.51. The company has a market cap of $110.89 billion, a PE ratio of -39.11 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Moderna has a 52 week low of $22.28 and a 52 week high of $280.54.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 6th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $1.48. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 25.79% and a negative net margin of 110.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $890.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.51) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moderna will post -6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total value of $485,766.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 74,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,374,353.55. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 39,145 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.72, for a total transaction of $8,640,084.40. Following the sale, the president owned 1,636,565 shares in the company, valued at $361,222,626.80. The trade was a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter valued at $564,272,000. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 6,931.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,054,306 shares of the company's stock valued at $203,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,311 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,461,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $172,384,000 after purchasing an additional 103,977 shares during the period. Finally, Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,642,545. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

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 help prevent or treat disease.

The company's commercial products include Spikevax, a vaccine against COVID-19, and mRESVIA, a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Moderna also researches potential mRNA-based vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases, cancer, and rare diseases.

Founded in 2010 as Moderna Therapeutics, the company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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.