Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,978 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,819 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Moderna were worth $623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 66.8% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 13,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,557 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Moderna during the second quarter worth about $247,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Moderna by 295.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 35,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,180,000 after buying an additional 26,300 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its position in shares of Moderna by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 204,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,947 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $41.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.12 and a beta of 1.60. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $31.94 and a one year high of $170.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.04.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.39) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $843,690.43. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 2,664 shares of company stock worth $115,210 in the last three months. 15.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners dropped their price objective on Moderna from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Moderna from $70.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $108.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.58.

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.