Moderna Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 128,988 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 85,938 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $70.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Moderna from $59.00 to $45.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.58.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $42.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.28 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.71. Moderna has a 12 month low of $31.94 and a 12 month high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.39) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna will post -9.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $843,690.43. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 53.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 311.2% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 1,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 53.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 477.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.