Moderna Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 151,646 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 74% compared to the average volume of 87,062 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MRNA shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $50.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.61.

Moderna Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.67. 7,146,605 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,407,852. Moderna has a twelve month low of $23.15 and a twelve month high of $139.92. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $26.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.87 and a beta of 1.86.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $163,833,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 335.6% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,590,831 shares of the company's stock worth $107,727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996,003 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,664,634 shares of the company's stock worth $776,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,469 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in Moderna by 170.5% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,766,398 shares of the company's stock worth $73,447,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SHANDA ASSET MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS Ltd bought a new stake in Moderna during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,350,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.