ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Shares Up 6.8% – What’s Next?

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) was up 6.8% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $10.18 and last traded at $10.5830. 995,368 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 20,570,580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded ImmunityBio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.20.

ImmunityBio Trading Up 5.4%

The company has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.70 and a beta of 0.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.88.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ImmunityBio

In other news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 81,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.50, for a total value of $851,088.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 100,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,053,244.50. The trade was a 44.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $10.75, for a total value of $268,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,777,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,861,221. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 66.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ImmunityBio

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in ImmunityBio by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,819 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,690,335 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in ImmunityBio during the second quarter valued at $19,125,000. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new position in ImmunityBio during the first quarter valued at $18,770,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in ImmunityBio by 923.5% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,648,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,482 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

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.