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

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $39.77, but opened at $38.55. Moderna shares last traded at $38.25, with a volume of 4,196,039 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRNA. Barclays decreased their price target on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.22.

Moderna Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.80. The company has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.42 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.39) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $42,985.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This trade represents a 7.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,930 shares of company stock valued at $217,170 in the last 90 days. 15.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Moderna by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,159,769,000 after purchasing an additional 5,129,800 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Moderna by 0.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,890,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,023,000 after buying an additional 19,819 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Moderna by 0.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,648,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,743,000 after purchasing an additional 18,728 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Moderna by 6.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,073,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,431,000 after acquiring an additional 178,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,132,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,533,000 after purchasing an additional 83,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

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.