Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Down 3.4% Following Insider Selling

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s stock price was down 3.4% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $120.38 and last traded at $120.72. Approximately 923,799 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 4,102,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.00.

Specifically, President Stephen Hoge sold 2,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total value of $225,833.16. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,515,898 shares in the company, valued at $143,358,473.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 647 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total value of $61,186.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,651. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 2,388 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $225,833.16. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,515,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,358,473.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 139,954 shares of company stock valued at $14,822,576. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Moderna from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moderna from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.55.

Moderna Trading Down 2.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $105.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.79 and a beta of 1.57.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. The business had revenue of $167.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.47 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Moderna

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moderna by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,372,058,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248,623 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 4th quarter worth $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,341 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Moderna by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,584,000 after buying an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Moderna by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,887,000 after acquiring an additional 517,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Company Profile

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.