Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 871 Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 7.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,947 shares of the company’s stock after selling 871 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Moderna were worth $1,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Moderna by 81.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,563 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 1st quarter valued at $124,000. Matrix Capital Management Company LP boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 730,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,789,000 after purchasing an additional 276,000 shares during the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 1st quarter valued at $293,000. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,648,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,743,000 after purchasing an additional 18,728 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MRNA. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $163.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total value of $1,663,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,026,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,827,186.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 255 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.96, for a total value of $30,844.80. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,486,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $179,808,007.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total transaction of $1,663,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,026,931 shares in the company, valued at $224,827,186.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 396,239 shares of company stock worth $55,428,337 over the last quarter. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moderna Stock Performance

MRNA traded down $1.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $121.08. 665,672 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,992,812. The firm has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.79 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $134.57 and its 200 day moving average is $115.08. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $62.55 and a one year high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.26 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 115.82% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 91.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.