Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 127,563 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 54% compared to the typical daily volume of 83,078 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,013 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 74,520 shares of the company's stock worth $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Moderna by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. New Insight Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Moderna by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. New Insight Wealth Advisors now owns 8,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Moderna by 53.3% during the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,128 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRNA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Moderna from $50.00 to $32.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Finally, William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.61.

Moderna Trading Up 5.8%

MRNA traded up $1.66 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,721,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,630,074. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.48 and a beta of 1.85. Moderna has a twelve month low of $23.15 and a twelve month high of $129.39. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $26.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.61.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.92) by $0.40. Moderna had a negative net margin of 105.67% and a negative return on equity of 28.69%. 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 prior year, the firm earned ($3.07) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 35.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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