Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 25.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,266 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,310 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Moderna were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,192 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moderna by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,690 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,100,000 after purchasing an additional 626,420 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,217,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth about $94,910,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRNA. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Moderna from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Moderna from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Evercore set a $35.00 price target on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moderna presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $32.33.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $54.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 3.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.70. The company has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a PE ratio of -7.56 and a beta of 1.29. Moderna, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $59.55.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The company reported ($2.11) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.79) by $0.68. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 30.15% and a negative net margin of 145.16%.The firm had revenue of $678.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.91) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 160,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.84, for a total transaction of $7,814,839.56. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,457,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,180,734.68. This represents a 9.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,679.52. This trade represents a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.