Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys 312,800 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 55.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 881,200 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 312,800 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Moderna were worth $44,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moderna during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in Moderna during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 148.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MRNA shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Moderna from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America upped their target price on Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moderna from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Moderna from $49.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $40.00.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ MRNA opened at $55.63 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.05. Moderna, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.28 and a 12-month high of $85.60. The firm has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The company had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $236.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.52) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,800.16. The trade was a 70.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $562,637.58. This trade represents 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. Insiders have sold 125,088 shares of company stock valued at $6,193,713 in the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Moderna

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.