Banco Santander S.A. Acquires Shares of 53,115 Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 53,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,550,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Moderna in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Moderna during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moderna in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Moderna by 230.4% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moderna

In related news, CFO James M. Mock sold 1,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.39, for a total value of $104,874.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,754. This trade represents a 13.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,930 shares of company stock worth $217,170. Insiders own 15.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MRNA. HSBC upgraded shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Moderna from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Moderna in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 target price (down from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Moderna from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moderna currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.00.

Moderna Stock Up 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $38.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.05. Moderna, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.80 and a 52-week high of $170.47. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

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

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.