Noubar Afeyan Sells 23,853 Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Stock

Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $703,186.44. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Moderna Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA traded down $0.49 during trading on Monday, reaching $28.97. The stock had a trading volume of 618,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,828,263. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.06. Moderna, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.28 and a 52 week high of $48.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.32 billion, a PE ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 29.81% and a negative net margin of 139.61%.The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $893.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 45.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MRNA. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, November 21st. Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of Moderna from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Moderna from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $29.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moderna by 3.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 19.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,690 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 15.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,223,000 after buying an additional 1,115,131 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP grew its position in Moderna by 2.5% during the third quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 8,068,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,417,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Moderna by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,597,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,982,000 after acquiring an additional 11,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

About Moderna

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.