Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock Price Down 3.4% – Time to Sell?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) dropped 3.4% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $221.70 and last traded at $223.37. 8,023,354 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 12,573,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $231.35.

Key Headlines Impacting Moderna

These are some of the MRNA headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Real-world data on mNEXSPIKE in adults 65 and older adds evidence supporting the vaccine’s effectiveness, a potential help for Moderna’s commercial prospects. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna is scheduled to join the MSCI World Index in November. Benchmark inclusion may broaden investor exposure to the stock, though it does not change the company’s business outlook. Article
• Negative Sentiment: The main near-term concern is Moderna’s plan for roughly $4 billion in cash costs in 2027, including investment in oncology. Investors are questioning whether future revenue can justify that spending, and some coverage says the 2026 outlook may still fall short of analyst expectations. Article Article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRNA has been the subject of several research reports. Loop Capital set a $135.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Moderna from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. William Blair cut shares of Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $137.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.75.

Moderna Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.46 and a beta of 1.16.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 6th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $1.48. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 25.79% and a negative net margin of 110.46%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $890.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.51) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -5.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Norris Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $496,000. N.F.U. MUTUAL UNIT MANAGERS Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,599,000. Disciplined Investors L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Moderna by 4.8% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 8,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Company Profile

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.