Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Purchases New Position in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MRNA. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Moderna by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 74,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,099,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moderna by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. New Insight Wealth Advisors increased its position in Moderna by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. New Insight Wealth Advisors now owns 8,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Moderna by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MRNA. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Moderna from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup began coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Moderna from $50.00 to $32.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Moderna from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Moderna from $33.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.61.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of Moderna stock opened at $26.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.10. Moderna, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.15 and a 52-week high of $135.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a PE ratio of -3.08 and a beta of 1.86.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($2.52) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.92) by $0.40. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 28.69% and a negative net margin of 105.67%. The company had revenue of $108.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($3.07) earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue was down 35.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.