AlphaQuest LLC Buys 13,096 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 56.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,141 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,096 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Moderna were worth $934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna in the first quarter worth $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moderna by 732.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 10,185 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Moderna during the first quarter valued at about $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 58.7% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 8,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 24.3% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MRNA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $28.77.

Moderna Stock Performance

MRNA stock opened at $42.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.29. Moderna, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.28 and a fifty-two week high of $55.20. The firm has a market cap of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of -5.27 and a beta of 1.17.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.03 earnings per share. Moderna’s quarterly revenue was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,679.52. The trade was a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

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.