Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ: VTRS) stock jumped 0.52% on Friday to $9.71 against a previous-day closing price of $9.66. With 9.71 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 11.81 million shares. During the session, the Drug Manufacturers – Specialty & Generic company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $9.80 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $9.63. The 52-week range on VTRS shows that it touched its highest point at $15.60 and its lowest point at $9.44 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $14.53. With its current market cap of 12.23 billion, VTRS has annualized dividend of $0.48 while the current yield stands at 4.94%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.23.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of VTRS was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -2.12%, but this was down by -9.34% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -4.90% while six-month performance fell -35.14%. The stock lost -31.76% in the past year, while it has lost -28.23% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for VTRS yields 0.14 with Next year EPS estimates of 3.41. For the next quarter, that number is 0.83. This implies an EPS growth rate of 5.80% for this year and -1.90% for next year. EPS is expected to decline by -1.30% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of -25.70%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 1.21 billion VTRS shares are outstanding with a float of 1.21 billion shares on hand for trading. On Jul 14, 2022, short shares totaled 27.47 million, which was 2.27% higher than short shares on Jun 14, 2022. In addition to Mr. Robert J. Coury as the firm’s Exec. Chairman, Mr. Michael Goettler serves as its CEO & Exec. Director.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 75.41% of VTRS’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 43.34% of VTRS, in contrast to 32.00% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 0.14%. As the largest shareholder in VTRS with 11.01% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 133,488,721 shares worth 133,488,721. A second-largest stockholder of VTRS, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 60,077,027 shares, controlling over 4.96% of the firm’s shares. Davis Selected Advisers LP is the third largest shareholder in VTRS, holding 56,666,290 shares or 4.67% stake. With a 4.56% stake in VTRS, the Vanguard Health Care Fund is the largest stakeholder. A total of 55,233,099 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, which owns about 2.95% of VTRS stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 35,742,586 shares valued at 374.22 million. Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund holds 2.30% of the stake in VTRS, owning 27,912,919 shares worth 292.25 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for VTRS since 12 analysts follow the stock currently. There are 2 analysts who recommend BUY ratings, while 2 suggest SELL ratings. Of the remaining analysts, 6 believe that the stock is worth HOLDING, 2 give it an OVERWEIGHT rating, and 0 thinks that it’s UNDERWEIGHT. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With VTRS analysts setting a high price target of $21.00 and a low target of $9.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $13.44. Based on these targets, VTRS could surge 116.27% to reach the target high and fall by -7.31% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 38.41% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy. VTRS will report FY 2022 earnings on 02/27/2023. Analysts have provided yearly estimates in a range of $3.58 being high and $3.20 being low. For VTRS, this leads to a yearly average estimate of $3.46. The earnings surprise of a firm occurs when the actual results change from the consensus earnings estimate. Viatris Inc. surprised analysts by $0.10 when it reported $0.93 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.83. The surprise factor in the prior quarter was -$0.03. Based on analyst estimates, the high estimate for the next quarter is $0.88 and the low estimate is $0.75. The average estimate for the next quarter is thus $0.83.
Dividends & Yield:
In terms of dividends, VTRS has a current ratio of $0.48, which is $0.48 over the trailing 12-months. Dividend yield is another indicator that appeals to many investors, and VTRS currently yields $4.74. In the past year, VTRS’s dividend yield has been $4.74. Accordingly, VTRS has a current buyback yield of $0.0. This was $0.0 for the TTM.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded VTRS stock several times over the past three months with 0 Buys and 1 Sells. In these transactions, 0 shares were bought while 8,813 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 82 while that of sell transactions has risen to 52 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 1,509,308 while 1,365,653 shares were sold.
