ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Stock Price Up 9.7% – Here’s Why

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX)’s stock price rose 9.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $8.74 and last traded at $8.6770. 6,613,000 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 21,062,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on IBRX shares. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Thursday, May 21st. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.20.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.82 and a beta of 0.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $7.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.83.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $51.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $1,191,167. The trade was a 51.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Barry Simon sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.88, for a total value of $197,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,802,788 shares in the company, valued at $22,085,969.44. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 412,410 shares of company stock worth $3,753,442 over the last quarter. 66.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBRX. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,125,000. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,770,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 58.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,314,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,511,000 after buying an additional 483,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing immunotherapies and other treatments designed to activate the immune system against cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s platform combines biologics, cell therapies, vaccines and other approaches intended to generate durable immune responses.

Its lead product, ANKTIVA (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln), is an interleukin-15 receptor agonist designed to stimulate natural killer cells and T cells.