California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 591,073 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,766 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.16% of Moderna worth $58,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Moderna by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,658,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,856,841,000 after acquiring an additional 196,012 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,611,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,572,000 after buying an additional 476,201 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,876,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $400,367,000 after buying an additional 1,690,341 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,126,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,887,000 after buying an additional 517,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,971,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,880,000 after buying an additional 55,177 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $106.18 on Friday. Moderna, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.55 and a twelve month high of $142.79. The company has a current ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $40.65 billion, a PE ratio of -8.56 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.73.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $1.33. Moderna had a negative net margin of 68.84% and a negative return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 44.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total value of $1,550,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,056,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $212,645,526.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total value of $1,550,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,056,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,645,526.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 2,388 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.57, for a total transaction of $225,833.16. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,515,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,358,473.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 109,954 shares of company stock worth $11,533,976. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer raised shares of Moderna from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $142.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.49.

Moderna Company Profile

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.