Callan Family Office LLC Invests $317,000 in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 4,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,226,335,000 after acquiring an additional 399,487 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,142,877,000. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Theleme Partners LLP grew its position in Moderna by 8.6% in the second quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,100,000 after acquiring an additional 626,420 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MRNA. Wolfe Research raised shares of Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised shares of Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. William Blair upgraded Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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

Insider Activity at Moderna

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

Moderna Stock Down 5.8%

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $149.66 on Thursday. Moderna, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.28 and a fifty-two week high of $176.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.75 billion, a PE ratio of -18.73 and a beta of 0.91. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.46.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.13) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

About Moderna

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.