Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Stock: North Dakota State Investment Board Lowers Holdings

North Dakota State Investment Board reduced its position in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,489 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,663 shares during the quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board’s holdings in Moderna were worth $2,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. VestGen Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,000. Conning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at about $351,000. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,560,000. Jacobsen Capital Management acquired a new stake in Moderna in the 3rd quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Moderna by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 21,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,181,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine candidate recently produced positive clinical-trial data, renewing investor optimism about a potentially significant oncology business. The upcoming Nov. 6 event or update could provide another near-term catalyst. Will Moderna Soar on Nov. 6?
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Stéphane Bancel defended the melanoma-vaccine results, saying the data should improve over time and that Moderna’s technology may be difficult for competitors to replicate. He also expressed confidence that the platform could work in cancers beyond melanoma. Moderna CEO Cancer Vaccine Commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: Moderna’s ESMO presentation highlighted the science behind its oncology pipeline, but investors now want evidence that the program can translate into commercial revenue and improve the company’s financial outlook. Moderna ESMO Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy investor searches for Moderna indicate elevated market interest, but the coverage does not identify a new fundamental development by itself. Investors Heavily Search Moderna
• Negative Sentiment: William Blair lowered Moderna to Market Perform from Outperform, citing valuation concerns after the stock’s strong oncology-driven advance. The downgrade suggests much of the cancer-vaccine optimism may already be reflected in the shares. William Blair Downgrades Moderna
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst lowered the FY2028 EPS estimate, reinforcing concerns about Moderna’s path to profitability and the premium valuation investors are assigning to its future pipeline. Comparisons with GSK emphasize that Moderna offers greater oncology upside but less income and currently higher execution risk. GSK vs. Moderna Growth Comparison

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MRNA shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut Moderna from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. CLSA upgraded Moderna to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Evercore raised their price objective on Moderna from $50.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $135.00 target price on Moderna in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In other Moderna news, CFO Jamey Mock sold 34,836 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,985,343.75. This represents a 36.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 40,294 shares of the firm’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 sale, the president owned 1,525,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,921,913.54. This trade represents 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. Insiders have sold a total of 197,251 shares of company stock valued at $33,875,904 in the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA opened at $222.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.93 billion, a PE ratio of -27.88 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $180.72 and its 200-day moving average is $85.58. Moderna, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.28 and a fifty-two week high of $254.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.93 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 141.43% and a negative return on equity of 28.30%. Moderna’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.13) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.11 EPS for the current year.

Moderna Profile

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 stimulate immune responses or support the treatment of disease. The company’s research programs span infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune conditions and other therapeutic areas.

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.