Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Trading Down 5.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Moderna's stock price fell by 5.2% after Leerink Partners downgraded its price target from $18.00 to $15.00, now holding an underperform rating.
• Several analysts have recently lowered their price targets, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $42.88.
• Institutional investors own approximately 75.33% of Moderna's stock, with notable increases in holdings from Vanguard and Geode Capital Management.

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) shares dropped 5.2% during mid-day trading on Monday after Leerink Partners lowered their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $15.00. Leerink Partners currently has an underperform rating on the stock. Moderna traded as low as $25.82 and last traded at $25.71. Approximately 4,869,262 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 10,628,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.12.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $26.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moderna in a research report on Friday, August 1st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on Moderna from $40.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.88.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Moderna by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,049 shares of the company's stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,959,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,037,000 after purchasing an additional 354,871 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,013 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 235,280 shares of the company's stock worth $9,784,000 after acquiring an additional 23,007 shares during the period. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments purchased a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter worth approximately $591,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

Moderna Stock Down 1.6%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.85. The company has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a PE ratio of -3.20 and a beta of 1.83.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.99) by $0.86. The business had revenue of $142.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 25.96% and a negative net margin of 94.31%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($3.33) earnings per share. Moderna has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current 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.