Norges Bank Buys Shares of 2,702,832 Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,702,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,707,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MRNA. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth $28,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 3,775.0% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 148.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MRNA opened at $47.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $49.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.18. Moderna, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $59.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.82 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price target on shares of Moderna and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Moderna from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $35.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total transaction of $264,951.66. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $562,637.58. This represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total transaction of $2,581,462.40. Following the transaction, the president owned 1,477,997 shares in the company, valued at $71,535,054.80. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,281 shares of company stock worth $3,280,293. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Company 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.