Moderna Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 179,268 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 83% compared to the average daily volume of 97,935 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total value of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210 over the last quarter. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,206 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,286,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Moderna by 365.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Moderna by 19.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 162,074 shares of the company's stock worth $10,831,000 after acquiring an additional 26,657 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in Moderna by 2.3% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 14,578 shares of the company's stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 529,686 shares of the company's stock worth $35,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,060 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MRNA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $45.00 price target on Moderna in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $41.00 to $34.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Moderna from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.63.

Moderna Stock Up 5.3 %

MRNA stock traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,324,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,517,878. Moderna has a 52-week low of $29.25 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.83 and a beta of 1.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.20.

Moderna Company Profile

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.