2,466,127 Shares in Arbutus Biopharma Corporation $ABUS Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (NASDAQ:ABUS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,466,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,837,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 290.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,075,948 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544,070 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 3.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 207,805 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 71.5% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 18,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 7,610 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Arbutus Biopharma by 29.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 181,084 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 41,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Arbutus Biopharma by 3,911.1% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,844 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 15,449 shares in the last quarter. 43.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.00.

Arbutus Biopharma Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of ABUS stock opened at $5.08 on Tuesday. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation has a twelve month low of $3.50 and a twelve month high of $5.45. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.50.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.70 million. Arbutus Biopharma had a net margin of 84.22% and a return on equity of 90.98%.

Arbutus Biopharma announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, August 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the biopharmaceutical company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Arbutus Biopharma Profile

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and advancing a cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The company’s pipeline features both direct-acting antivirals and host-targeting therapies designed to reduce viral load and restore immune function. Lead programs include an RNA interference (RNAi) candidate aimed at silencing viral gene expression and next-generation capsid assembly modulators that seek to inhibit viral replication at its core.

In addition to its antiviral portfolio, Arbutus leverages proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology to optimize the distribution and cellular uptake of nucleic acid therapeutics.