Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target to $135.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price target lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. HSBC restated a reduce rating and issued a $86.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 26th. William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moderna from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $129.55.

Moderna Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of MRNA stock traded down $2.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $122.13. 3,948,735 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,142,523. Moderna has a twelve month low of $62.55 and a twelve month high of $142.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.48. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Moderna will post -7.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total transaction of $1,628,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,131,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,399,790.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total value of $1,628,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,131,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $231,399,790.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total value of $71,860.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,048 shares in the company, valued at $514,542.64. 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. Insiders own 15.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Moderna by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,372,058,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248,623 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $400,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,341 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,460 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,887,000 after purchasing an additional 517,683 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.