Bamco Inc. NY Buys Shares of 1,989,386 Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Bamco Inc. NY bought a new stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,989,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $139,317,000. Bamco Inc. NY owned approximately 0.50% of Moderna at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Moderna in the first quarter valued at approximately $899,000. Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth $161,642,545,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1,387.6% during the second quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company's stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 22,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $173,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,400. The trade was a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moderna Stock Down 5.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $149.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $59.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.73 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Moderna, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.28 and a 12-month high of $176.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.46.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.13) EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Moderna News Summary

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRNA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised Moderna from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moderna from $50.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, William Blair upgraded Moderna from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $74.31.

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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