Biotech company Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) was in the headlines for news related to its executives. Shares of the company closed 6.72% lower on Wednesday.
Recently, the newly-appointed chief financial officer, Jorge Gomez, left the vaccine maker after a day of his joining. In April, Gomez was announced as the new CFO and he joined this Monday.
According to Moderna, the recently retired finance chief David Meline will return to his former position, until the company’s hunt is over for a new CFO.
Reason for Departure
The revelation of an internal investigation associated with financial reporting at Gomez’s previous employer, Dentsply Sirona Inc. (XRAY), was cited as the reason.
The probe circled around the proper accounting of the use of incentives to sell products to distributors. Unfortunately, this chaos is likely to delay the dental equipment manufacturer’s quarterly filing with U.S. securities regulators.
In a company’s release, Dentsply Interim Chief Executive John Groetelaars said, “It is around the use of incentives with dealers and the implication of those incentives as it relates to the accounting of that, as well as whether those incentives were directed by executives of the company, both former executives as well as potentially executives that are still here, to hit compensation targets.”
Gomez did not provide any comment.
Moderna will pay $700,000 to Gomez as 12 months’ salary, but his signing bonus and bonus eligibility will be scrapped.
Wall Street’s Take
Recently, Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Papadakis reiterated a Hold rating and a price target of $155 (25.58% upside potential) on the stock.
The rest of the Street is cautiously optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on six Buys, five Holds, and one Sell. The average Moderna price target of $250.60 implies 103.03% upside potential from current levels. Shares have lost 19.2% over the past year.
Bloggers Weigh in
Bloggers seem to be collectively bullish when it comes to MRNA stock. TipRanks data shows that financial blogger opinions are 70% Bullish on MRNA. However, this is less than the sector average of 72%.
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