Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 6.3% – Still a Buy?

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares shot up 6.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $27.10 and last traded at $27.1040. 6,796,861 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 10,845,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MRNA shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moderna from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.46.

Moderna Stock Up 7.6%

The company has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.40 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.97.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 45.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the first quarter worth $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its holdings in Moderna by 94.1% during the second quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 920 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Moderna by 348.8% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 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.