Axa S.A. Purchases Shares of 28,500 Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 1st, 2023

Axa S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 28,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $550,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VIR. State Street Corp increased its stake in Vir Biotechnology by 65.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,193,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665,657 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Vir Biotechnology by 495.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 562,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,324,000 after acquiring an additional 468,000 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Vir Biotechnology by 1,713.0% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 471,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,021,000 after acquiring an additional 445,904 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vir Biotechnology by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,758,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,546,000 after acquiring an additional 428,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Vir Biotechnology by 91.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 612,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,749,000 after buying an additional 291,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. SVB Leerink dropped their target price on Vir Biotechnology from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Vir Biotechnology in a research report on Friday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Vir Biotechnology from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Vir Biotechnology from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Insider Activity at Vir Biotechnology

In other Vir Biotechnology news, major shareholder Endurance (Cayman) Ltd Svf sold 88,462 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.47, for a total transaction of $2,430,051.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,710,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,913,754.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Howard Horn sold 2,248 shares of Vir Biotechnology stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.97, for a total transaction of $58,380.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 230,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,991,590.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Endurance (Cayman) Ltd Svf sold 88,462 shares of Vir Biotechnology stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.47, for a total value of $2,430,051.14. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,710,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,913,754.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,524,926 shares of company stock valued at $41,467,860. 22.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vir Biotechnology Price Performance

NASDAQ VIR opened at $22.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.79 and its 200-day moving average is $24.74. Vir Biotechnology, Inc. has a one year low of $18.05 and a one year high of $31.78.

Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR – Get Rating) last announced 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 company had revenue of $49.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.92 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 93.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Vir Biotechnology, Inc. will post -1.72 EPS for the current year.

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.