Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Target Raised at The Goldman Sachs Group

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $137.00 to $195.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 29.80% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on MRNA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, August 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $150.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.75.

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA traded up $23.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $277.76. 6,751,011 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,623,705. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $191.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.51. The company has a market cap of $110.89 billion, a PE ratio of -39.11 and a beta of 1.16. Moderna has a 12-month low of $22.28 and a 12-month high of $280.54. The company has a quick ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 6th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $1.48. Moderna had a negative net margin of 110.46% and a negative return on equity of 25.79%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $890.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.51) EPS. Moderna’s revenue was up 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Moderna will post -6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, CFO Jamey Mock sold 34,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $4,685,093.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,985,343.75. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,294 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.13, for a total transaction of $5,807,574.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 1,525,858 shares in the company, valued at $219,921,913.54. The trade was a 2.57% 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. Insiders sold a total of 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP bought a new stake in Moderna in the second quarter worth $564,272,000. Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Moderna in the second quarter worth $161,642,545. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $139,317,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter valued at about $119,168,000. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can help prevent or treat disease.

The company’s commercial products include Spikevax, a vaccine against COVID-19, and mRESVIA, a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Moderna also researches potential mRNA-based vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases, cancer, and rare diseases.

Founded in 2010 as Moderna Therapeutics, the company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.