AXQ Capital LP Purchases 39,835 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Key Points

• AXQ Capital LP increased its Moderna stake by 183.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 39,835 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 61,584 shares worth about $1.8 million.
• Institutional interest in Moderna remains strong, with several hedge funds boosting positions and 75.33% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Moderna shares were down 2.4% to $46.06, while the company reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss despite revenue that beat estimates; analysts still have a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $35.73 target price.

AXQ Capital LP boosted its position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Free Report) by 183.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,584 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 39,835 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP's holdings in Moderna were worth $1,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Collar Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moderna by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Collar Capital Management LLC now owns 50,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 12,139 shares during the period. Lingotto Investment Management LLP raised its stake in Moderna by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 498,693 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,706,000 after acquiring an additional 125,598 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its stake in Moderna by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 15,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its position in shares of Moderna by 114.4% during the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 14,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 7,584 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,707,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of MRNA opened at $46.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.65 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.66. 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 1 year low of $22.28 and a 1 year high of $59.55.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.52) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MRNA shares. Barclays upped their price target on Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price target on Moderna and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 price target on Moderna in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Moderna from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $35.73.

Trending Headlines about Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna announced an expanded collaboration with CEPI to develop a potential vaccine against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, with CEPI committing up to $50 million to fund preclinical work and Phase 1 testing. The external funding reduces development risk and highlights continued interest in Moderna's mRNA platform. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck presented 5-year data showing intismeran autogene plus KEYTRUDA cut the risk of recurrence or death in high-risk melanoma patients, reinforcing the company’s oncology pipeline and keeping investor attention on a possible future commercial opportunity. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional coverage echoed the CEPI Ebola partnership and the melanoma data, but did not add materially new information beyond the original announcements. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed broader interest in mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines and the relevance of Moderna’s technology, which may be supportive long term but is not an immediate financial catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may still be cautious because these are early-stage vaccine and cancer programs, so the news improves sentiment but does not yet change Moderna’s earnings outlook in the near term.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,800.16. This represents a 70.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total value of $2,581,462.40. Following the sale, the president directly owned 1,477,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $71,535,054.80. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 68,281 shares of company stock valued at $3,280,293. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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