Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Trading Up 8.4% - What's Next?

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) were up 8.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $32.10 and last traded at $32.43. Approximately 2,369,487 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 8,694,827 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.90.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on MRNA shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Moderna from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Moderna from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.61.

Moderna Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.73 and a beta of 1.84. The firm's 50 day moving average is $26.86 and its 200 day moving average is $31.29.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $108.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.35 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 105.67% and a negative return on equity of 28.69%. Moderna's revenue was down 35.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($3.07) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Moderna by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,894,075 shares of the company's stock worth $78,756,000 after buying an additional 669,614 shares in the last quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,474,000. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter valued at about $783,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moderna by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,241,354 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,219,000 after buying an additional 171,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Moderna by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,006,462 shares of the company's stock worth $208,169,000 after purchasing an additional 979,858 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.