ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Stock Price Up 8.3% – Still a Buy?

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) traded up 8.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $8.43 and last traded at $8.4350. Approximately 6,283,108 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 26,390,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IBRX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. D. Boral Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (up from $7.00) on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ImmunityBio presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.20.

ImmunityBio Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.48. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.33 and a beta of 0.03.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.54). The company had revenue of $44.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.07 million. Research analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ImmunityBio news, Director Barry J. Simon sold 23,033 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.18, for a total value of $165,376.94. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,827,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,303,517.84. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 66.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Heights Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ImmunityBio during the 3rd quarter worth about $16,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ImmunityBio by 26.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,655,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,032,000 after purchasing an additional 5,837,898 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ImmunityBio by 79.2% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 452,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 199,990 shares in the last quarter. MOR Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ImmunityBio in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $494,000. Finally, Winning Points Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ImmunityBio in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s research platform centers on harnessing the power of the human immune system—through engineered T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, cytokine superagonists and viral-vectored vaccines—to target and eliminate diseased cells across a range of indications.

Among its lead assets is Anktiva (formerly known as N-803), an interleukin-15 superagonist designed to stimulate NK and T cell activity.