Sessa Capital IM L.P. Takes Position in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Key Points

• Sessa Capital IM L.P. invested approximately $21.07 million in shares of Moderna, acquiring 743,081 shares in the first quarter, making it the 21st largest position in their portfolio.
• Moderna reported a quarterly earnings per share of ($2.13), which beat analysts' expectations, and quarterly revenue of $142 million, but experienced a 41.1% decrease compared to the previous year.
• Research analysts have varied outlooks on Moderna, with an average target price of $42.88 and a general "Hold" rating, while some firms, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, adjusted their price targets downward.

Sessa Capital IM L.P. purchased a new position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 743,081 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,066,000. Moderna comprises about 0.8% of Sessa Capital IM L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Sessa Capital IM L.P. owned approximately 0.19% of Moderna as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Theleme Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,306,861 shares of the company's stock worth $303,819,000 after purchasing an additional 72,028 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 17.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,883,624 shares of the company's stock worth $166,801,000 after purchasing an additional 877,162 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 5.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,119,626 shares of the company's stock worth $88,441,000 after purchasing an additional 160,572 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 12.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,629,865 shares of the company's stock worth $74,557,000 after purchasing an additional 285,662 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 335.6% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,590,831 shares of the company's stock worth $107,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $26.00 price objective on Moderna in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Moderna from $40.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI set a $32.00 price target on Moderna in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.88.

Moderna Trading Up 4.5%

MRNA traded up $1.09 on Thursday, hitting $25.40. 9,252,014 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,728,108. Moderna, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.15 and a 52 week high of $75.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of -3.37 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.34.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.99) by $0.86. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 25.96% and a negative net margin of 94.31%.The company had revenue of $142.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($3.33) EPS. The company's revenue was down 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Moderna has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moderna Profile

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.