Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moderna during the first quarter worth $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moderna by 732.7% in the first 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 position in Moderna in the 1st quarter worth about $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Moderna by 58.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Moderna by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after buying an additional 2,410 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MRNA. Brookline Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Moderna from $41.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. William Blair started coverage on Moderna in a research note on Friday, August 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised Moderna from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn cut Moderna from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $81.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.72.

Moderna Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of MRNA traded down $5.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $140.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,268,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,637,390. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $87.26 and its 200-day moving average is $64.32. Moderna, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.28 and a 52-week high of $176.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($1.97) EPS 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 business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($2.13) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Shannon Klinger sold 3,471 shares of Moderna 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 sale, the insider directly owned 74,129 shares in the company, valued at $10,374,353.55. This trade represents a 4.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.37, for a total value of $2,739,870.32. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.