Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) Shares Gap Up to $22.84

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR – Get Rating) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $22.84, but opened at $24.45. Vir Biotechnology shares last traded at $23.58, with a volume of 191,786 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VIR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Vir Biotechnology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. SVB Leerink cut their target price on Vir Biotechnology from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Vir Biotechnology from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Vir Biotechnology from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a report on Friday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.29.

Vir Biotechnology Stock Down 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.63.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported ($0.76) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.72). The business had revenue of $49.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 93.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Vir Biotechnology, Inc. will post -2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vir Biotechnology

In other news, Director Vicki L. Sato sold 17,915 shares of Vir Biotechnology stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total transaction of $462,744.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,363,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,210,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Vicki L. Sato sold 17,915 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.83, for a total transaction of $462,744.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,363,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,210,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Endurance (Cayman) Ltd Svf sold 104,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.53, for a total transaction of $2,655,783.78. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,597,509 shares in the company, valued at $525,854,404.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,429,115 shares of company stock valued at $38,830,984 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vir Biotechnology

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 127.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 175.1% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 982 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vir Biotechnology during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vir Biotechnology during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vir Biotechnology in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 74.97% of the company’s stock.

Vir Biotechnology Company Profile

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Vir Biotechnology, Inc, a commercial-stage immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. It develops Sotrovimab (VIR-7832), a SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing mAbs to treat and prevent COVID-19 infection under the Xevudy brand; VIR-2218 and VIR-3434 for the treatment of hepatitis B virus; VIR-2482 for the prevention of influenza A virus; and VIR-1111 for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus.