The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 178,939 Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,073,934 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 178,939 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.80% of Moderna worth $205,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Moderna by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,132,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,533,000 after acquiring an additional 83,082 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moderna by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,614,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,885,000 after purchasing an additional 167,596 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Moderna by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,427,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,542,000 after buying an additional 29,566 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Moderna by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,163,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,787,000 after acquiring an additional 109,852 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Moderna by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 966,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,611,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. 75.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moderna Stock Down 3.7 %

MRNA stock opened at $42.05 on Wednesday. Moderna, Inc. has a one year low of $35.80 and a one year high of $170.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.20.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative net margin of 43.77% and a negative return on equity of 17.68%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.39) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Moderna in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on shares of Moderna from $60.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Moderna from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer cut Moderna from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price objective (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moderna presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.26.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO James M. Mock sold 715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $42,985.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $571,440.60. This represents a 7.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,609 shares of company stock valued at $112,295. 15.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moderna Profile

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.