Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,779,001 shares of the company’s stock after selling 90,270 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.71% of Moderna worth $71,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth $94,910,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moderna by 19.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,690 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moderna by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312,192 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,101,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,917,000 after buying an additional 1,217,408 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,192,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,679.52. This represents a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on MRNA. UBS Group cut Moderna from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays began coverage on Moderna in a report on Wednesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $28.77.

Moderna Trading Down 0.3%

MRNA opened at $45.30 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.05. Moderna, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.28 and a 12-month high of $55.20. The firm has a market cap of $17.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.61 and a beta of 1.17.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $1.64. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Moderna Company 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.