ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Shares Up 5.1% on Analyst Upgrade

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX)’s stock price rose 5.1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $8.98 and last traded at $8.8740. Approximately 4,527,693 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 20,797,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.44.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on IBRX. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at ImmunityBio

In other news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of ImmunityBio stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.50, for a total transaction of $1,246,495.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 125,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,191,167. This trade represents a 51.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 66.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 52.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 9,513 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ImmunityBio by 20.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,398,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,343,000 after purchasing an additional 3,690,335 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 243,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 52,581 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of ImmunityBio during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,207,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its position in ImmunityBio by 577.5% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 97,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 83,173 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

ImmunityBio Stock Up 3.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.10 and a beta of 0.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.81.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $51.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 million. Sell-side analysts predict that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing immunotherapies designed to activate and strengthen the body’s immune system against cancer and infectious diseases. The company combines cytokine-based therapies, vaccines, cellular therapies and other immune-modulating technologies in an effort to create durable treatment responses.

Its lead product, ANKTIVA (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln), is an interleukin-15 receptor agonist immune stimulator.