St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Buys 4,620 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $890,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merck & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at about $161,642,545. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at about $899,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moderna by 1,387.6% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 22,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,013,000. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Price Performance

MRNA stock traded down $18.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $218.01. 21,365,242 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,294,008. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.88. The company has a market cap of $87.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.29 and a beta of 1.09. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $242.29. 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 (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($2.13) earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Moderna from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Moderna from $48.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. William Blair started coverage on Moderna in a report on Friday, August 28th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Argus raised Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, August 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 34,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.49, for a total value of $4,685,093.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,375 shares in the company, valued at $7,985,343.75. The trade was a 36.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.13, for a total transaction of $5,807,574.22. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,525,858 shares in the company, valued at $219,921,913.54. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 197,251 shares of company stock worth $33,875,904. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Moderna News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Upcoming melanoma and other cancer-vaccine data remain the main bullish catalyst. Earlier positive results from Moderna’s personalized cancer-vaccine collaboration with Merck have increased expectations that new data could support the pipeline and help sustain the stock’s gains. Merck and Moderna cancer vaccine strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest has also been supported by strong momentum, healthcare-sector fund flows and optimism that Moderna’s pipeline could diversify the business beyond COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna rallies as money rotates into healthcare
• Neutral Sentiment: President Stephen Hoge sold a combined 78,369 shares in transactions conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Although the sales may weigh on sentiment, they represented only a small portion of his remaining holdings and were not discretionary trades made during the current move. Moderna insider trading filing
• Neutral Sentiment: A study comparing the stability of three mRNA vaccines in human blood may provide useful scientific context for the platform, but it does not appear to offer an immediate change to Moderna’s revenue outlook or valuation. mRNA vaccine stability study
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking has intensified after Moderna became one of the market’s strongest performers, with analysts cautioning that the stock’s valuation now depends heavily on successful pipeline execution. Goldman Sachs raised its target to $137 but retained a Neutral rating, leaving the target substantially below recent trading levels. Moderna valuation debate
• Negative Sentiment: The broader selloff in vaccine stocks, including declines in Novavax and BioNTech, has added sector-wide pressure. Investors are also wary of Moderna’s continuing losses and negative cash flow while awaiting the cancer-data catalyst. Vaccine-stock selloff

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can help prevent or treat disease, supporting the company’s work across infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions, and cardiovascular diseases.

Moderna’s commercial products include Spikevax, an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, and mRESVIA, an mRNA vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.