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Vanina de Verneuil, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR), recently sold 5,140 shares of the company’s common stock. The transaction, which took place on February 24, 2025, was executed at an average price of $9.45 per share, totaling approximately $48,590. The sale comes as VIR’s stock has shown strong momentum, posting a 29% gain year-to-date, according to InvestingPro data. This sale was carried out to cover the company’s tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of restricted stock units.
In addition to this transaction, de Verneuil acquired 35,000 restricted stock units on February 22, 2025, at no cost, as part of Vir Biotechnology’s Equity Incentive Plan. Additionally, she received stock options for 70,000 shares, exercisable at $9.57 per share, with a vesting schedule beginning in February 2026.
Following these transactions, de Verneuil holds a direct ownership of 86,833 shares of Vir Biotechnology’s common stock. The company, currently valued at $1.26 billion, appears undervalued according to InvestingPro’s Fair Value analysis.
In other recent news, Vir Biotechnology has reported promising results from ongoing dose escalation trials for its dual-masked T-cell engagers, VIR-5818 and VIR-5500. The initial Phase 1 data indicates favorable safety and efficacy profiles, with no dose-limiting cytokine release syndrome observed. Encouraging clinical responses were noted, including tumor shrinkage in 50% of participants with various HER2-expressing cancers using VIR-5818 and a 58% PSA50 response rate with VIR-5500 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Additionally, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded Vir Biotechnology’s stock rating from Equalweight to Overweight, doubling the price target to $20, citing confidence in the VIR-5500 program’s potential. Goldman Sachs maintained its Buy rating with a $28 target, highlighting early signs of differentiation in Vir’s TCE programs licensed from Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY). JPMorgan also raised its price target to $14, acknowledging the promising activity of VIR-5818 and VIR-5500 in solid tumor subsets. Meanwhile, Vir Biotechnology announced an executive change, with Maninder Hora, Ph.D., set to become the new Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Operations Officer.
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