Vir Biotechnology’s (VIR) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $110.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Vir Biotechnology’s FY2024 earnings at ($3.13) EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.80) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.88) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.96) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.58) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($3.10) EPS, FY2026 earnings at ($2.13) EPS, FY2027 earnings at ($1.68) EPS and FY2028 earnings at ($0.61) EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Vir Biotechnology from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vir Biotechnology currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $33.57.

Vir Biotechnology Stock Performance

VIR stock opened at $9.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.38 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.64. Vir Biotechnology has a 52-week low of $7.61 and a 52-week high of $27.48.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.99) by $0.51. Vir Biotechnology had a negative return on equity of 32.58% and a negative net margin of 677.69%. The business had revenue of $56.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.71 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.06) EPS. Vir Biotechnology’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vir Biotechnology will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vir Biotechnology

In other news, EVP Ann M. Hanly sold 2,711 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total transaction of $27,245.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,327,293.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Phillip Pang sold 3,321 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann M. Hanly sold 2,711 shares of Vir Biotechnology stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total value of $27,245.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,069 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,327,293.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,831 shares of company stock valued at $1,525,844 in the last quarter. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,297,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,709,000 after buying an additional 1,096,473 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,214,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Vir Biotechnology by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 412,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 228,634 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Vir Biotechnology by 68.5% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 525,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 213,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 41.0% during the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 708,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 205,913 shares during the period. 65.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Vir Biotechnology

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.