Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on VIR. HC Wainwright reiterated a buy rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vir Biotechnology from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vir Biotechnology presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $34.63.

Vir Biotechnology Stock Performance

Shares of VIR stock traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,691,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,968. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of -2.59 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.60. Vir Biotechnology has a 52 week low of $7.61 and a 52 week high of $27.48.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.51. Vir Biotechnology had a negative return on equity of 31.89% and a negative net margin of 677.69%. The business had revenue of $56.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.06) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vir Biotechnology will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vir Biotechnology

In other news, EVP Phillip Pang sold 3,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.24, for a total transaction of $34,007.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,710,312.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Backer Marianne De sold 72,995 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.46, for a total transaction of $690,532.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 678,457 shares in the company, valued at $6,418,203.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Phillip Pang sold 3,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.24, for a total value of $34,007.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 264,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,710,312.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,831 shares of company stock valued at $1,525,844. Corporate insiders own 15.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vir Biotechnology

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VIR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,297,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,473 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Vir Biotechnology by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 861,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,072,000 after purchasing an additional 24,492 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 753,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,576,000 after purchasing an additional 31,405 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 41.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 708,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 205,913 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 525,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 213,477 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.32% of the company’s stock.

Vir Biotechnology Company Profile

Vir Biotechnology, Inc, a commercial-stage immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. It offers tobevibart + elebsiran for the treatment of chronic hepatitis delta; elebsiran + PEG-IFN-a, tobevibart ± elebsiran ± PEG-IFN-a, and elebsiran+ TLR8+PD-1 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B; VIR-1388 and Cure mAb combination for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus; VIR-8190 for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus / human metapneumovirus; VIR-2981 for the treatment of influenza; VIR-1949 for the treatment of pre-cancerous HPV lesions; and VIR07229 and Sotrovimab for the treatment of COVID-19 infection under the Xevudy brand.