Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 409,021 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lessened its holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 55.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 324,665 shares of the company’s stock after selling 409,021 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Moderna were worth $8,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $94,910,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 364.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,869,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,163,000 after purchasing an additional 2,251,497 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moderna by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,690 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moderna by 3.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312,192 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Moderna by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,101,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,917,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,408 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MRNA shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, October 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on Moderna from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on Moderna from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Moderna from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Moderna from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $29.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moderna news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,679.52. The trade was a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA opened at $29.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.47. The stock has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.65 and a beta of 1.17. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $22.28 and a one year high of $48.92.

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

About Moderna

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.