Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $110.00 price objective on the stock.

VIR has been the topic of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Vir Biotechnology from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Vir Biotechnology from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Vir Biotechnology from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vir Biotechnology has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.80.

Vir Biotechnology Price Performance

Shares of Vir Biotechnology stock opened at $12.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.18 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.34. Vir Biotechnology has a 1 year low of $6.56 and a 1 year high of $14.45.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($1.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.51). Vir Biotechnology had a negative return on equity of 36.71% and a negative net margin of 678.40%. The business had revenue of $2.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.22) earnings per share. Vir Biotechnology’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vir Biotechnology will post -3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vicki L. Sato sold 10,960 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $137,219.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,312,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,431,135.32. The trade was a 0.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,786 shares of company stock worth $170,172. Corporate insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Vir Biotechnology by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,134,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,496,000 after acquiring an additional 136,087 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 10.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,625,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,135,000 after purchasing an additional 530,645 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vir Biotechnology in the second quarter valued at about $1,780,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 180.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 19,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 12,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 94.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,248,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,108,000 after buying an additional 606,804 shares during the period. 65.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Vir Biotechnology

Vir Biotechnology, Inc, an immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. Its clinical development pipeline consists of product candidates targeting hepatitis delta virus (HDV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The company’s preclinical candidates include those targeting influenza A and B, coronavirus disease 2019, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (MPV), and human papillomavirus (HPV).