Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Reduces Position in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,469 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,718 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Moderna were worth $1,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MRNA. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth $899,000. Merck & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at approximately $161,642,545. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Moderna in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,168,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Moderna by 1,387.6% in the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 22,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 498,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,706,000 after purchasing an additional 125,598 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Moderna

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Moderna and Merck reported that the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene plus Keytruda met its primary recurrence-free-survival endpoint in resected stage IIB–IV melanoma. It was the first positive Phase 3 result for an mRNA-based cancer therapy and strengthens Moderna’s long-term oncology outlook, although detailed data have not yet been released. Moderna melanoma trial article
• Positive Sentiment: Technical analysts describe the recent consolidation as a potential bullish pennant following the cancer-vaccine-driven breakout. Elevated short interest could provide additional buying pressure if the shares break above resistance. Moderna technical forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Chief Legal Officer Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares for approximately $486,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding tied to vested equity awards. Because the transaction was planned and tax-related, it provides limited insight into management’s view of Moderna’s valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Rothschild & Co. Redburn downgraded Moderna from Neutral to Sell, saying the cancer-vaccine rally has made the stock overvalued. The firm raised its price target to $81 from $40, but the new target remains well below recent trading levels, intensifying profit-taking concerns. Rothschild Moderna downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: GSK is advancing an mRNA influenza vaccine toward Phase 3 after reporting stronger immune responses in Phase 2. The competing program could challenge Moderna’s newly approved mFlusiva and increase pressure on its commercial vaccine pipeline. GSK mRNA flu vaccine competition

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $145.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.29. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.45. The company has a market cap of $58.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.22 and a beta of 1.10. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $176.66.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($2.13) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.09 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $81.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Moderna from $67.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, August 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total transaction of $2,739,870.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,483,848 shares in the company, valued at $76,225,271.76. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.95, for a total value of $485,766.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 74,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,374,353.55. This represents a 4.47% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.