First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 59.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,392,693 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 891,072 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Moderna were worth $121,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moderna in the 1st quarter valued at $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moderna by 732.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 10,185 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Moderna in the 1st quarter valued at about $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Moderna by 58.7% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 8,706 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Moderna by 5.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MRNA shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moderna from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $40.00.

Moderna Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $57.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.62 billion, a PE ratio of -7.00 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Moderna, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $85.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $389.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $236.37 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($2.52) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Moderna news, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.63, for a total value of $264,951.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,066 shares in the company, valued at approximately $562,637.58. The trade was a 32.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total value of $2,739,870.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 1,483,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,225,271.76. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 125,088 shares of company stock valued at $6,193,713. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.