Vir Jumps 20% On S&P SmallCap 600 News

Currently, 66 ETFs are affected, but it will be added to even more funds soon.

TwitterTwitterTwitter
etf
|
Reviewed by: Ben Kissam
,
Edited by: Ben Kissam

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (VIR) jumped as much as 20% on Wednesday after announcing that it will join the S&P SmallCap 600 on April 4. 

Vir is currently held by 66 ETFs. A total of 8 million shares are currently held in exchange-traded funds. 

The three ETFs with the most VIR exposure are the ETFMG Treatments Testing and Advancements ETF (GERM), with a 2.95% weighting in the stock, while the iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF (IDNA) and the Invesco DWA Healthcare Momentum ETF (PTH) have weightings in Vir of 1.78% and 1.07%, respectively.  

 

 

The $7.2 billion SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI), which has a weighting of 0.57% to VIR, holds the most shares of the stock overall, at 1.53 million, followed by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) at 1.40 million, and the Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VB) at 703.70K. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) and the Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF (VBK) are in the fourth and fifth spots, with 551.49K and 532.83K shares, respectively. 

 

 

The last 30 days have been great for growth for Vir holders, especially for the ProShares ETFs that hold the fund and claim the top three spots in terms of performance. The ProShares Ultra Health Care (RXL) has gone up 14.32%, while the ProShares Ultra NASDAQ Biotechnology (BIB) and the ProShares UltraPro Russell2000 (URTY) have jumped 9.94% and 9.62%, respectively.  

 

 

In terms of strategy, cap-weighted plain vanilla ETFs account for nearly 40% of the ETFs holding Vir, with 26 of 66 ETFs falling into that category. 

While Vir isn't currently held by a large number of ETFs, its addition to the S&P SmallCap 600 paves the way for several big funds that track the index include it in their portfolios.  

Ranked in terms of assets under management, the top five ETFs that track the S&P SmallCap 600 and their assets are as follows: 

  1. iShares S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR), $72.8 billion 
  2. SPDR Portfolio S&P 600 Small Cap ETF (SPSM), $4.5 billion 
  3. Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 ETF (VIOO), $2.0 billion 
  4. SPDR S&P Small Cap ETF (SLY), $1.8 billion 
  5. Invesco S&P SmallCap Value with Momentum ETF (XSVM), $754.9 million 

Fund managers could also be looking at value when it comes to Vir. The stock is down 46% so far in 2022 and currently trading around $27, a far cry from its 52-week high of $58. 

Only 13 months ago, Vir hit its peak stock price of $76.58 in February 2021. 

Ben Kissam is a writer and media strategist. A former educator, he's written two books and had essays published in The Boston Globe and Thought Catalog. He lives in Denver.