NEOS Investment Management LLC Grows Stake in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 11.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 56,031 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,811 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Moderna were worth $3,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Moderna in the first quarter valued at about $899,000. Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $161,642,545. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth about $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1,387.6% during the second quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 22,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 498,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,706,000 after acquiring an additional 125,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna 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 transaction of $485,766.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 74,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,374,353.55. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 53,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total transaction of $2,739,870.32. Following the sale, the president directly owned 1,483,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,225,271.76. The trade was a 3.47% 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. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MRNA. Bank of America upgraded shares of Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. CLSA upgraded shares of Moderna to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moderna from $67.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.72.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $145.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Moderna, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.28 and a twelve month high of $176.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.11 billion, a PE ratio of -18.22 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.03) by $0.06. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.30% and a negative net margin of 141.43%.The company had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.13) EPS. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Headlines Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck reported that the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene plus Keytruda met its primary recurrence-free-survival endpoint in resected stage IIB–IV melanoma. It was the first positive Phase 3 result for an mRNA-based cancer therapy and strengthens Moderna’s long-term oncology outlook, although detailed data have not yet been released. Moderna melanoma trial article
• Positive Sentiment: Technical analysts describe the recent consolidation as a potential bullish pennant following the cancer-vaccine-driven breakout. Elevated short interest could provide additional buying pressure if the shares break above resistance. Moderna technical forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Chief Legal Officer Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares for approximately $486,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to vested equity awards. Because the transaction was planned and tax-related, it provides limited insight into management’s view of Moderna’s valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Rothschild & Co. Redburn downgraded Moderna from Neutral to Sell, saying the cancer-vaccine rally has made the stock overvalued. The firm raised its price target to $81 from $40, but the new target remains well below recent trading levels, intensifying profit-taking concerns. Rothschild Moderna downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: GSK is advancing an mRNA influenza vaccine toward Phase 3 after reporting stronger immune responses in Phase 2. The competing program could challenge Moderna’s newly approved mFlusiva and increase pressure on its commercial vaccine pipeline. GSK mRNA flu vaccine competition

Moderna 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.