13,666 Shares in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 13,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MRNA. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the 1st quarter valued at about $415,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 10,185 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Moderna in the 1st quarter worth approximately $230,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Moderna by 58.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 23,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $668,000 after acquiring an additional 8,706 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Moderna by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 48,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price target on Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $38.27.

Moderna Stock Up 3.7%

MRNA opened at $76.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.38 billion, a PE ratio of -9.39 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Moderna, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.28 and a 52 week high of $85.60.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.52) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other Moderna news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $173,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at $3,373,400. This trade represents a 4.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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, Director Abbas Hussain sold 5,682 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,088 shares of company stock worth $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.