Aufman Associates Inc Buys 25,691 Shares of Moderna, Inc. $MRNA

Aufman Associates Inc grew its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 146.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 43,200 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 25,691 shares during the quarter. Moderna makes up 0.7% of Aufman Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Aufman Associates Inc’s holdings in Moderna were worth $1,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 15,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its position in Moderna by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Moderna by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in Moderna by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in Moderna by 6.2% in the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 9,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 9,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $433,878.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares in the company, valued at $183,800.16. This represents a 70.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Stephen Hoge sold 53,336 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total transaction of $2,581,462.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 1,477,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,535,054.80. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,281 shares of company stock worth $3,280,293. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Moderna Stock Performance

Shares of MRNA stock opened at $47.44 on Monday. Moderna, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.28 and a 1-year high of $59.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $18.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.82 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.83 and a 200-day moving average of $43.31.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported ($3.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.02) by ($0.38). Moderna had a negative return on equity of 26.64% and a negative net margin of 143.55%.The company had revenue of $389.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.52) earnings per share. Moderna’s revenue was up 260.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MRNA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Moderna from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, February 16th. Evercore set a $35.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $33.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Moderna from $25.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moderna has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $35.73.

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.