California Public Employees Retirement System Has $31.91 Million Stock Position in Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 31.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 628,160 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 149,192 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Moderna were worth $31,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moderna by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,584,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,226,335,000 after purchasing an additional 399,487 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 4th quarter worth approximately $378,299,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Moderna by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,131 shares during the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP boosted its stake in Moderna by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 7,868,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,100,000 after purchasing an additional 626,420 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moderna by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,621,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,290,000 after purchasing an additional 309,126 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moderna Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $59.66 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.36. Moderna, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.28 and a 1 year high of $85.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $23.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.32 and a beta of 0.94.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.02) by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.37 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 143.55% and a negative return on equity of 26.64%. Moderna’s revenue was up 260.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.52) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MRNA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Moderna from $49.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Moderna from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Moderna from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 3,471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $173,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 67,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,373,400. This trade represents a 4.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,800.16. This trade represents a 70.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 125,088 shares of company stock worth $6,193,713 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.