Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its target price upped by research analysts at Barclays from $25.00 to $48.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential downside of 2.44% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on MRNA. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Moderna from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $30.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Moderna from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.87.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $49.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.91 and a 200 day moving average of $36.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.33. Moderna has a 52 week low of $22.28 and a 52 week high of $59.55.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The company reported ($2.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.79) by $0.68. The business had revenue of $678.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.14 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 30.15% and a negative net margin of 145.16%.The business’s revenue was down 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($2.91) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other Moderna news, President Stephen Hoge sold 160,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.84, for a total value of $7,814,839.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 1,457,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,180,734.68. The trade was a 9.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Moderna by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 34,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after buying an additional 6,751 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $240,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,425,000. Finally, Hamilton Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,098,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moderna

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.