Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) by 187.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,673 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Moderna were worth $911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moderna by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,036,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,159,769,000 after acquiring an additional 5,129,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Moderna by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,225,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614,460 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Moderna by 0.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,648,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,743,000 after purchasing an additional 18,728 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moderna during the 4th quarter valued at about $347,565,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Moderna by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,916,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,230,000 after buying an additional 120,621 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MRNA shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Moderna from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Moderna from $157.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Moderna from $178.00 to $139.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Moderna from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Moderna in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.93.

Moderna Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $69.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 3.92. The company has a market cap of $26.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 1.67. Moderna, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.55 and a 1 year high of $170.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.72.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($3.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.47) by $0.14. Moderna had a negative net margin of 116.18% and a negative return on equity of 21.35%. The firm had revenue of $241.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($3.62) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.12, for a total transaction of $1,816,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,442,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,665,819.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, President Stephen Hoge sold 15,000 shares of Moderna stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.12, for a total value of $1,816,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 1,442,089 shares in the company, valued at $174,665,819.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total transaction of $104,874.19. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $682,754. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,158 shares of company stock worth $11,167,312 over the last quarter. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

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.