Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ: VIR) stock jumped 3.85% on Tuesday to $26.73 against a previous-day closing price of $25.74. With 1.21 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.99 million shares. During the session, the Biotechnology company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $27.05 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $25.73. The 52-week range on VIR shows that it touched its highest point at $31.78 and its lowest point at $18.05 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $49.71. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.27.
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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 VIR was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 7.48%, but this was up by 5.24% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -1.04% while six-month performance fell -1.07%. The stock gained 9.73% in the past year, while it has gained 5.61% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for VIR yields -1.10 with Next year EPS estimates of -4.91. For the next quarter, that number is -1.20. This implies an EPS growth rate of -3.40% for this year and -18.30% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 7.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 92.00%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 133.55 million VIR shares are outstanding with a float of 114.86 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 4.7 million, which was 3.51% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Ms. Johanna Friedl-Naderer as the firm’s Exec. VP & COO, Dr. Ann M. Hanly Ph.D. serves as its Exec. VP & Chief Technology Officer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 73.82% of VIR’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 31.37% of VIR, in contrast to 30.84% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 18.67%. As the largest shareholder in VIR with 9.23% of the stake, BlackRock Fund Advisors holds 12,328,638 shares worth 12,328,638. A second-largest stockholder of VIR, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 9,968,340 shares, controlling over 7.47% of the firm’s shares. Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. is the third largest shareholder in VIR, holding 5,710,510 shares or 4.28% stake. With a 4.13% stake in VIR, the iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 5,510,068 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trus, which owns about 2.85% of VIR stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 3,801,908 shares valued at 95.62 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF holds 2.30% of the stake in VIR, owning 3,076,972 shares worth 77.39 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Mar 30, 2023, VIR reported revenue of -$42.69M and operating income of -$225.22M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$212.24M and diluted EPS was -$0.58.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for VIR since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With VIR analysts setting a high price target of $100.00 and a low target of $27.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $47.75. Based on these targets, VIR could surge 274.11% to reach the target high and rise by 1.01% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 78.64% 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.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded VIR stock several times over the past three months with 3 Buys and 12 Sells. In these transactions, 645,452 shares were bought while 153,714 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 69 while that of sell transactions has risen to 155 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 1,713,091 while 10,486,790 shares were sold.
