2,308,190 Shares in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Purchased by Merck & Co. Inc.

Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,308,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $161,642,545,000. Moderna comprises 30.7% of Merck & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Moderna by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,226,335,000 after purchasing an additional 399,487 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,142,877,000. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Moderna by 15.7% in the third 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 period. Finally, Theleme Partners LLP raised 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 purchasing an additional 626,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $173,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,400. This represents a 4.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $76,225,271.76. This represents 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,070 shares of company stock worth $3,347,299. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MRNA. UBS Group reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on Moderna from $41.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Moderna from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $42.13.

Moderna Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of MRNA opened at $64.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.07 and a beta of 0.91. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $85.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%.The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.93 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.13) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moderna 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.