17,700 Shares in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought 17,700 shares of Moderna in the first quarter, worth about $899,000. Several other institutional investors also increased or initiated positions, and institutions now own 75.33% of the company.
• Moderna insiders have been selling stock, including directors Abbas Hussain and Noubar Afeyan, with 125,088 shares sold by insiders over the last 90 days. Company insiders currently own 10.80% of Moderna shares.
• Analysts remain cautious overall despite some higher price targets: Moderna has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $37.13. The stock recently traded at $79.76, while the company also reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss even as revenue rose sharply year over year.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 17,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $899,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at about $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 732.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,575 shares of the company's stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 10,185 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Moderna during the first quarter worth about $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Moderna by 58.7% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 8,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 5.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $562,637.58. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,800.16. This represents a 70.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 125,088 shares of company stock worth $6,193,713 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MRNA. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on Moderna from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $37.13.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA opened at $79.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $81.40. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $53.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.22.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($3.02) by ($0.38). Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. The business had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.52) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 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.

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