ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.00.

A number of research firms have issued reports on IBRX. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other ImmunityBio news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 81,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.50, for a total transaction of $851,088.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 100,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,053,244.50. This represents a 44.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Barry J. Simon sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.75, for a total transaction of $268,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,777,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,861,221. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 66.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ImmunityBio

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IBRX. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,819 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 20.8% in 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the second quarter worth $19,125,000. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio in the first quarter worth $18,770,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in ImmunityBio by 923.5% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,648,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,644,000 after buying an additional 1,487,482 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ImmunityBio Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of IBRX stock opened at $9.91 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.48 and a 200-day moving average of $7.94. ImmunityBio has a 12-month low of $1.95 and a 12-month high of $12.43. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.22 and a beta of 0.02.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $51.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that ImmunityBio will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

About ImmunityBio

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.