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George A. Scangos, a director at Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR), has sold 10,056 shares of the company’s common stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.4534, totaling approximately $95,063. Following this transaction, Scangos holds 698,239 shares directly in the $1.26 billion market cap company. The stock has shown strong momentum with a 29% gain year-to-date, though trading below InvestingPro’s calculated Fair Value.
Additionally, Scangos has indirect ownership of shares through various trusts and family holdings. These include 1,151,730 shares held in the George A Scangos 2023 Annuity Trust, 598,270 shares held by his spouse, 1,151,730 shares in the Leslie Wilson 2023 Annuity Trust, 33,629 shares in the Scangos-Wilson Family Trust, and 179,930 shares in the Scangos 2018 Grandchildren’s Trust. The company maintains strong liquidity with a current ratio of 8.94 and holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet.
The recent sale was an automatic transaction to cover tax obligations related to the vesting of restricted stock units. Discover comprehensive analysis and 8 additional key insights about VIR’s financial health in the detailed InvestingPro Research Report.
In other recent news, Vir Biotechnology has made headlines with several key developments. The company announced the appointment of Maninder Hora, Ph.D., as the new Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Operations Officer, succeeding Ann (Aine) M. Hanly, Ph.D., who will depart in February 2025. This executive change was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the financial front, Vir Biotechnology received an upgrade from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which elevated its stock rating from Equalweight to Overweight and doubled its price target from $10 to $20, driven by promising preliminary results from its T-cell engager (TCE) pipeline, including the VIR-5500 program targeting prostate cancer.
Goldman Sachs maintained its Buy rating for Vir Biotechnology, keeping the price target steady at $28, citing early promising data from the company’s TCE programs licensed from Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY). These developments underscore Vir’s strategic shift into oncology, which analysts believe could enhance the company’s value. Meanwhile, JPMorgan raised its price target for Vir to $14 while maintaining a Neutral rating, following the presentation of initial clinical data for its TCEs, VIR-5818 and VIR-5500, which showed encouraging activity in solid tumor subsets.
Furthermore, Vir Biotechnology’s stock surged significantly after releasing positive safety and efficacy data from dose escalation trials for its dual-masked T-cell engagers, VIR-5818 and VIR-5500. The trials indicated favorable safety margins and promising clinical responses in heavily pretreated patients. CEO Marianne De Backer expressed optimism about the potential of these treatments, particularly highlighting the innovative PRO-XTEN™ masking technology. These recent developments have garnered significant attention from investors and analysts, reflecting confidence in Vir Biotechnology’s strategic direction and therapeutic potential.
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