On October 1, Moderna, Inc. rose 3.44% in regular trading, trading at $198.81/share, with turnover of $8.79 billion. The stock staged a notable rebound after plunging over 8% in the prior session following a rating downgrade from Citi.
On September 30, Citi analyst Geoff Meacham downgraded Moderna from Neutral to Sell, raising his price target from $60 to $80 — still implying roughly 60% downside from current levels. This marked the second Sell downgrade in recent weeks, following Rothschild & Co Redburn's similar move in early September. The Wall Street consensus target stands at approximately $112.72, well below the current share price, underscoring a widening valuation debate.
However, several supportive factors helped trigger the intraday bounce. Moderna announced the creation of a Chief Operating Officer role, appointing veteran Juan Andres effective October 5, as the company prepares for the commercialization and scale-up of its personalized cancer vaccine intismeran autogene following positive Phase 3 trial results. Additionally, options markets had recently seen multiple large bullish bets, including a $3.49 million put-selling block at the $190 strike and a $3.23 million bull call spread targeting the $190–$270 range through early next year, signaling institutional willingness to buy dips.
(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)