Merck & Co. Inc. Takes $161.64 Million Position in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Merck & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,308,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $161,642,545. Moderna makes up about 0.0% of Merck & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Merck & Co. Inc. owned 0.58% of Moderna at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 399,487 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $2,142,877,000. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 4th quarter valued at about $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 worth $212,223,000 after buying an additional 1,115,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Theleme Partners LLP boosted its stake in Moderna by 8.6% during the second quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,100,000 after buying an additional 626,420 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck reported that personalized melanoma vaccine intismeran, combined with Keytruda, met its goals in a Phase 3 trial involving 1,137 patients. The treatment reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence and distant spread versus Keytruda alone, providing important late-stage validation for Moderna’s oncology strategy. Success after a century of failures: Inside Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine breakthrough
• Positive Sentiment: The FDA approved Moderna’s updated 2026–2027 Spikevax and mNEXSPIKE COVID-19 vaccines targeting the XFG subvariant. The approvals preserve Moderna’s commercial access to the seasonal COVID vaccine market, although demand remains an uncertainty. US FDA approves updated COVID vaccines for 2026-27 season
• Positive Sentiment: Argus upgraded MRNA from Hold to Buy and assigned a $180 price target, signaling increased confidence in the company’s pipeline and longer-term prospects. Argus Upgrades Moderna to Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna’s strong melanoma result has improved investor sentiment toward personalized mRNA cancer treatments and may support the valuation of other mRNA developers. However, commercialization, regulatory review and manufacturing timelines remain ahead.
• Negative Sentiment: Moderna priced an upsized $2.6 billion offering of zero-coupon convertible senior notes due 2032, versus the initially proposed $2.0 billion. Although proceeds may fund oncology investment and debt repayment, investors are concerned about future share dilution and the larger financing requirement. Moderna Announces Pricing of Upsized $2.6 Billion Offering
• Negative Sentiment: BioNTech’s decision to halt an mRNA colorectal cancer vaccine trial after a review is weighing on the broader mRNA biotechnology group, raising concerns about the difficulty of translating promising early-stage data into successful cancer products.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the president owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at $76,225,271.76. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 company’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 approximately $3,373,400. This represents a 4.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Moderna from $67.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moderna from $39.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $50.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.53.

Moderna Trading Down 3.6%

Moderna stock traded down $5.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $137.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,875,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,418,879. The stock has a market cap of $54.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.23 and a beta of 0.91. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.28 and a 12 month high of $176.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.17.

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