Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 82,913 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the typical volume of 48,590 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moderna from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Moderna News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna reported a second-quarter loss of $1.97 per share, slightly better than the $2.03 consensus estimate and an improvement from a $2.13 loss a year earlier. Revenue increased about 2.1% year over year to $145 million, exceeding some published estimates. Moderna Q2 Earnings Snapshot
• Positive Sentiment: The company reiterated its plan to deliver up to 10% revenue growth in 2026, lowered its full-year operating-expense outlook by approximately $200 million and raised its expected year-end cash balance to $4.7 billion-$5.2 billion. Moderna Second-Quarter Results and Business Updates
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting the FDA’s August 5 decision on mFLUSIVA, Moderna’s seasonal influenza vaccine candidate. Approval would provide a potential new commercial product, although the company remains heavily dependent on COVID-related sales. Moderna Earnings and Stock Price
• Negative Sentiment: COVID-19 vaccine sales were weaker than expected, causing Moderna to miss Wall Street’s quarterly revenue forecast in some estimates and reinforcing concerns about declining demand for its core product. Moderna Misses Revenue Estimates on COVID Vaccine Weakness
• Negative Sentiment: Moderna said its mRNA-1403 norovirus vaccine did not meet the statistical criteria for early success in a Phase 3 interim analysis. The trial will continue with an additional cohort, delaying clarity on a potentially important pipeline opportunity. Moderna Norovirus Vaccine Update

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ MRNA traded down $1.86 on Friday, reaching $56.06. 4,534,977 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,827,863. Moderna has a 12 month low of $22.28 and a 12 month high of $85.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.50. The stock has a market cap of $22.24 billion, a PE ratio of -6.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($2.13) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Moderna will post -6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total value of $2,739,870.32. Following the transaction, the president owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at $76,225,271.76. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $173,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 67,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,373,400. The trade was a 4.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 119,406 shares of company stock worth $5,928,762 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,226,335,000 after purchasing an additional 399,487 shares during the period. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter worth about $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Moderna by 15.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after buying an additional 1,115,131 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Moderna by 8.6% in the second quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,100,000 after buying an additional 626,420 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Moderna by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,621,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,290,000 after acquiring an additional 309,126 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.