Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires 230,192 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 103.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 452,529 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230,192 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Moderna were worth $13,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,226,335,000 after purchasing an additional 399,487 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Moderna in the fourth quarter valued at $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Moderna by 15.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,131 shares in the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP grew its position in Moderna by 2.5% in the third quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 8,068,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,417,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Moderna by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,621,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,290,000 after purchasing an additional 309,126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moderna

In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,800.16. The trade was a 70.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total transaction of $264,951.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $562,637.58. The trade was a 32.01% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,752 shares of company stock worth $3,453,843. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $52.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.36. Moderna, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.28 and a 52 week high of $59.55.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.52) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRNA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $36.60.

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.