Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Moderna, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from 25 brokerages, with ratings ranging from sell to strong buy.
• The average 12-month price objective set by analysts for Moderna is $46.11, despite recent price cuts from firms like Royal Bank of Canada and JPMorgan Chase.
• Institutional investors own over 75% of Moderna's stock, with notable increases in stakes from several hedge funds in recent quarters.

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.11.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Moderna from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 7.4% in 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. Theleme Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,306,861 shares of the company's stock worth $303,819,000 after acquiring an additional 72,028 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,241,354 shares of the company's stock worth $300,219,000 after acquiring an additional 171,774 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,883,624 shares of the company's stock worth $166,801,000 after acquiring an additional 877,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter worth $163,833,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Stock Down 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA traded down $1.25 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.66. 8,283,596 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,594,017. The firm has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.74 and a beta of 1.84. Moderna has a twelve month low of $23.15 and a twelve month high of $125.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.37.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.92) by $0.40. The business had revenue of $108.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $130.35 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 105.67% and a negative return on equity of 28.69%. The business's revenue was down 35.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($3.07) EPS. Research analysts expect that Moderna will post -9.61 EPS 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.