Moderna rallies on renewed optimism around its Merck-partnered melanoma vaccine program

Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) is up 6.8% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The most likely catalyst is investor optimism following the company’s updated five-year follow-up data for its individualized cancer vaccine program (intismeran autogene/V940) in melanoma, presented around the ASCO 2026 timeframe. The update appears to have refocused attention on Moderna’s oncology pipeline beyond its COVID franchise.

Details:

In a June 1, 2026 joint press release, Moderna and Merck highlighted five-year follow-up results from the Phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study of intismeran autogene combined with pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA) after complete resection in high-risk Stage III/IV melanoma.

The companies emphasized sustained improvement in recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival versus KEYTRUDA alone, along with an encouraging overall-survival trend.

Moderna also published an ASCO recap describing the five-year update and reiterating the strategic importance of personalized cancer vaccination within its broader pipeline.

This kind of multi-year durability update can drive a “pipeline re-rating,” especially when the market is already focused on upcoming late-stage readouts and regulatory milestones.

Sources:

Merck, Moderna, BioSpace

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$MRNA Insider Trading Activity

$MRNA insiders have traded $MRNA stock on the open market 7 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 7 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $MRNA stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

STEPHEN HOGE (President) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 213,345 shares for an estimated $10,396,301.
NOUBAR AFEYAN has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 33,116 shares for an estimated $1,137,184.
SHANNON THYME KLINGER (Chief Legal Officer) sold 13,885 shares for an estimated $726,046
ABBAS HUSSAIN has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 6,186 shares for an estimated $278,862.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Quiver Quantitative API insider transaction endpoint.

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$MRNA Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 371 institutional investors add shares of $MRNA stock to their portfolio, and 333 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

FMR LLC added 17,626,713 shares (+62.9%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $848,197,429
CAPITAL WORLD INVESTORS added 5,869,654 shares (+45.8%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $282,447,750
BLACKROCK, INC. removed 2,869,857 shares (-8.8%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $138,097,518
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC added 2,653,078 shares (+67.2%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $127,666,113
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP added 2,274,302 shares (+2730.4%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $109,439,412
TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP added 1,744,308 shares (+23.8%) to their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $83,936,100
SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LLP removed 1,560,559 shares (-96.6%) from their portfolio in Q1 2026, for an estimated $75,094,099

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Quiver Quantitative API 13F endpoint.

$MRNA Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $MRNA in the last several months. We have seen 1 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Piper Sandler issued a "Overweight" rating on 02/23/2026

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $MRNA, check out Quiver Quantitative's $MRNA forecast page.

$MRNA Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $MRNA recently. We have seen 8 analysts offer price targets for $MRNA in the last 6 months, with a median target of $46.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Luca Issi from RBC Capital set a target price of $38.0 on 05/04/2026
Salveen Richter from Goldman Sachs set a target price of $49.0 on 05/04/2026
Cory Kasimov from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $50.0 on 05/04/2026
Eliana Merle from UBS set a target price of $45.0 on 05/04/2026
Eliana Merle from Barclays set a target price of $48.0 on 04/02/2026
Edward Tenthoff from Piper Sandler set a target price of $69.0 on 02/23/2026
Andrew Tsai from Jefferies set a target price of $30.0 on 12/12/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.