Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR)

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $19.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 105.18% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on VIR. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Vir Biotechnology from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vir Biotechnology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.80.

Vir Biotechnology Price Performance

Shares of Vir Biotechnology stock opened at $9.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.36 and a beta of 0.46. Vir Biotechnology has a 12 month low of $7.12 and a 12 month high of $13.09.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported ($1.56) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.96) by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $2.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 million. Vir Biotechnology had a negative net margin of 678.40% and a negative return on equity of 35.00%. The business’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.22) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Vir Biotechnology will post -3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vir Biotechnology

In other Vir Biotechnology news, Director Janet Napolitano sold 12,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.80, for a total value of $95,082.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $90,604.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 15.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vir Biotechnology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vir Biotechnology by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,375,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,362,000 after purchasing an additional 78,216 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 94.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,248,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,108,000 after purchasing an additional 606,804 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 813,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 6,359 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 10.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 637,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,673,000 after purchasing an additional 58,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 8.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 458,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,640,000 after purchasing an additional 34,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.32% of the company’s stock.

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).