EULAV Asset Management Acquires 9,727 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Key Points

• EULAV Asset Management acquired 9,727 Moderna shares worth approximately $1.87 million in the third quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of Moderna’s stock.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with a $103.95 price target, despite several firms raising their targets. Seven analysts rate the stock Buy, 14 Hold and four Sell.
• Moderna’s personalized cancer-vaccine trial with Merck reduced melanoma recurrence or death risk by 42%, strengthening its oncology outlook, though the stock remains volatile after a sharp rally and concerns that results fell short of lofty expectations.

EULAV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,727 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,873,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MRNA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,142,877,000. Theleme Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $564,272,000. Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $161,642,545. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $139,317,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the second quarter worth approximately $119,168,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MRNA. Bradesco Corretora upgraded Moderna to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $89.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Moderna from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $120.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $103.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total value of $485,766.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 74,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,374,353.55. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 40,294 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.13, for a total transaction of $5,807,574.22. Following the transaction, the president owned 1,525,858 shares in the company, valued at $219,921,913.54. The trade was a 2.57% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 197,251 shares of company stock worth $33,875,904. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Key Moderna News

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck reported positive Phase 3 INTerpath-001 results for the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, used with Keytruda. The treatment reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 42%, while also improving distant metastasis-free survival. Oncologists described the findings as a major advance in melanoma care. Nature article
• Positive Sentiment: The results strengthen the case for Moderna’s oncology pipeline and could support a major future revenue stream beyond COVID-19 vaccines, particularly if additional trials demonstrate benefits in other cancers. Moderna has also advanced its mRNA bird-flu vaccine into a late-stage trial, adding another potential pipeline catalyst. Bird flu vaccine trial article
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna’s recent addition to the Nasdaq-100 and analyst support provide structural and sentiment benefits, but these factors have less immediate influence than the cancer-vaccine readout. The stock had already posted an exceptionally strong rally, leaving the valuation highly sensitive to new clinical information. Nasdaq-100 inclusion article
• Negative Sentiment: Partial trial data appeared on social media ahead of Moderna and Merck’s planned ESMO presentation, triggering extreme volatility and a sharp selloff. The premature release disrupted the expected news event and encouraged a “sell-the-news” reaction. CNBC data leak article
• Negative Sentiment: Although clinically meaningful, the 42% reduction fell short of the market’s very high expectations after Moderna’s dramatic run-up. Investors also questioned whether the results will translate beyond melanoma, how quickly the product could reach the market, and its eventual commercial opportunity. The breach of near-term technical support and heightened trading swings add further pressure. Zacks analysis

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $200.10 on Monday. Moderna, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.28 and a 1 year high of $254.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The business's 50-day moving average is $172.79 and its 200-day moving average is $97.30. The company has a market capitalization of $79.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.04 and a beta of 1.09.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%. The firm's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($2.13) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can stimulate immune responses or support the treatment of disease. The company's research programs span infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions and other therapeutic areas.

Moderna's commercial products include Spikevax, an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, and mRESVIA, an mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.