Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Director Noubar Afeyan Sells 15,000 Shares

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.32, for a total transaction of $1,624,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,041,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,181,965.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Noubar Afeyan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 17th, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total transaction of $1,550,700.00.
• On Wednesday, April 10th, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.12, for a total transaction of $1,606,800.00.
• On Wednesday, April 3rd, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.68, for a total transaction of $1,525,200.00.
• On Wednesday, March 27th, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.06, for a total transaction of $1,635,900.00.
• On Wednesday, March 20th, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.39, for a total transaction of $1,535,850.00.
• On Wednesday, March 13th, Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total transaction of $1,628,100.00.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA opened at $107.97 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.77. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $41.34 billion, a PE ratio of -8.70 and a beta of 1.62. Moderna, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.55 and a 52-week high of $142.79.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The firm’s revenue was down 44.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.61 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moderna

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Moderna by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,907,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,372,058,000 after acquiring an additional 6,248,623 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter worth about $347,565,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690,341 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,887,000 after purchasing an additional 517,683 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on MRNA. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $86.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.49.

About Moderna

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.