Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $51.87, but opened at $49.81. Moderna shares last traded at $47.5320, with a volume of 4,393,569 shares trading hands.

Key Stories Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Five‑year follow‑up Phase IIb results for Moderna and Merck’s personalized melanoma vaccine show a large reduction in recurrence/death (~49% risk reduction when combined with Keytruda), supporting the thesis that oncology programs could materially re‑rate Moderna’s growth story. MRNA & MRK’s Personalized Cancer Therapy Delivers Strong 5-Year Data
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple outlets report the melanoma vaccine showed durable protection at 5 years and that early clinical readouts have driven a rally and momentum toward a 52‑week high — a near‑term positive for sentiment and potential re‑rating if further trials succeed. mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up
• Positive Sentiment: Press coverage highlights promising melanoma vaccine data and positions oncology and personalized medicine as the company’s path to rebuild top‑line growth after the COVID vaccine era. Moderna’s Skin Cancer Vaccine Is Looking Seriously Promising
• Neutral Sentiment: Market context: broader market moves and sector rotation helped magnify Moderna’s stock swings this week; coverage of the rally and technical momentum is mixed with reminders that biotech remains volatile. MarketBeat Week in Review – 01/19 – 01/23
• Negative Sentiment: CEO comments that Moderna will curb investment in new late‑stage infectious‑disease vaccine trials because of growing U.S. anti‑vaccine backlash introduce strategic and political risk — potentially capping near‑term vaccine revenue upside and raising uncertainty about the company’s vaccine pipeline plans. Moderna curbing investments in vaccine trials due to US backlash, CEO tells Bloomberg TV
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage emphasizes the “pullback” from new vaccine trials and rising anti‑vax sentiment as a drag on the company’s ability to monetize respiratory vaccines going forward — a catalyst that can offset optimism from oncology data and prompt profit‑taking. Anti-vaccine sentiment pushes Moderna away from new late-stage infectious disease trials

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRNA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Moderna from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Moderna from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group lowered Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $40.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $30.36.

Moderna Stock Down 6.0%

The company has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.04 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.79.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The firm’s revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,679.52. This represents a 85.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 94.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 920 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 348.8% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.