11,211 Shares in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Bought by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 11,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $785,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the first quarter worth approximately $899,000. Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at $161,642,545,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1,387.6% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 22,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 498,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,706,000 after purchasing an additional 125,598 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $173,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,373,400. This represents a 4.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total transaction of $2,739,870.32. Following the sale, the president directly owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at $76,225,271.76. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on MRNA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Moderna from $67.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Loop Capital set a $135.00 price objective on Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Moderna from $41.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.31.

Key Stories Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck’s individualized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, reportedly reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence by 49% in a late-stage study when used with Keytruda. The results reinforce Moderna’s strategy of expanding beyond COVID-19 vaccines and could support a large oncology opportunity. Skin cancer vaccine report
• Positive Sentiment: Wolfe Research upgraded Moderna following the Phase 3 oncology data and estimated a potential cancer-vaccine market opportunity of approximately $9.2 billion. That outlook helped fuel the recent rally and improves confidence that Moderna may develop meaningful non-COVID revenue. Wolfe cancer-vaccine opportunity report
• Positive Sentiment: The FDA’s approval of the first mRNA-based flu vaccine highlights growing recognition of mRNA technology and may increase the strategic and patent value of platforms used by companies such as Moderna. FDA mRNA flu vaccine report
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors are increasingly viewing Moderna as an oncology and platform-technology company rather than solely a COVID-19 vaccine maker. However, recent trading alerts and analyst-driven momentum appear to have amplified volatility, making the shares vulnerable to profit-taking.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upgrade, the stock is giving back part of its rally because Moderna’s roughly $59 billion valuation remains difficult to justify against a loss-making business and weak near-term revenue. The company reported a quarterly loss and continues to face uncertainty over the timing and probability of commercializing its pipeline. Moderna valuation and pullback report
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage also cautions that the cancer-vaccine evidence remains limited and that manufacturing personalization, treatment costs, regulatory review and broad adoption could restrict the therapy’s eventual use. Cancer-vaccine barriers explainer
• Negative Sentiment: Moderna’s CEO warned that China’s state-backed investment in mRNA technology is intensifying global competition, potentially increasing pressure on intellectual property, pricing and long-term market share. China mRNA competition report

Moderna Price Performance

MRNA opened at $149.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.75 billion, a PE ratio of -18.73 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.46. Moderna, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.28 and a 52-week high of $176.66.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.13) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.18 EPS for the current year.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.