Merit Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,341 shares of the company’s stock after selling 789 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Moderna were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moderna by 6,528.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 387,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,552,000 after purchasing an additional 381,808 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in Moderna by 477.5% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 483,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,091,000 after buying an additional 399,843 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Moderna by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 270,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,929,000 after buying an additional 43,646 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 19.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,887,000 after buying an additional 517,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD boosted its position in shares of Moderna by 10.5% during the third quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 32,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,252,000 after acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MRNA shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $142.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total value of $1,663,800.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,026,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,827,186.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.92, for a total value of $1,663,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,026,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $224,827,186.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.93, for a total transaction of $71,860.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $514,542.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,954 shares of company stock valued at $14,822,576. 15.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $121.89 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.03, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $46.71 billion, a PE ratio of -7.78 and a beta of 1.57. Moderna, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.55 and a 12-month high of $142.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.24.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($3.07) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.59) by $0.52. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 20.10% and a negative net margin of 115.82%. The company had revenue of $167.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.26 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 91.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moderna Company 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.