Moderna Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 128,500 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 157% compared to the average daily volume of 49,924 put options.

Moderna Stock Down 5.6 %

NASDAQ:MRNA traded down $2.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.77. The company had a trading volume of 12,722,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,620,776. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.14 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.80. Moderna has a 12-month low of $38.76 and a 12-month high of $170.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.39) earnings per share. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moderna will post -9.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MRNA shares. Oppenheimer lowered Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Barclays cut their target price on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Moderna from $130.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.18.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $682,754. The trade was a 13.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. The trade was a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total value of $104,874.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,754. This trade represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moderna by 91.1% during the third quarter. Intrinsic Value Partners LLC now owns 51,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,435,000 after purchasing an additional 24,505 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moderna by 148.2% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 116,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,758,000 after purchasing an additional 69,313 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moderna by 20.9% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 56,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,676,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moderna by 11.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,885,000 after purchasing an additional 167,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Moderna by 74.0% during the third quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 40,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 17,221 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.