Conning Inc. Invests $207,000 in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Conning Inc. bought a new stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 2,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Moderna by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 55,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,576 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,081,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,592,000 after purchasing an additional 154,112 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at $5,012,000. Aquila Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC bought a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at $383,000. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRNA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.49.

Moderna Price Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $105.01 on Monday. Moderna, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.55 and a 52 week high of $156.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.53. The company has a quick ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.78) by $1.33. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 44.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.06, for a total value of $1,635,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,101,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $229,236,594.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 670 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $63,361.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,235.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.06, for a total transaction of $1,635,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,101,931 shares in the company, valued at $229,236,594.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 94,954 shares of company stock valued at $9,966,476 in the last ninety days. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.