Moderna Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 159,220 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 72% compared to the average daily volume of 92,832 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MRNA. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Moderna from $41.00 to $34.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Moderna from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Moderna from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their price target on Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Moderna from $50.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.58.

Moderna Price Performance

MRNA stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.56. 30,650,266 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,167,783. The business's 50 day moving average price is $26.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.82. Moderna has a 52-week low of $23.15 and a 52-week high of $158.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 1.99.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.92) by $0.40. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.74% and a negative net margin of 110.04%. The firm had revenue of $108.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($3.07) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 35.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth about $2,049,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 313.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 167,499 shares of the company's stock worth $4,745,000 after buying an additional 126,961 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth about $232,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth about $232,000. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 58.7% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company's stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 8,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

About Moderna

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.