ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Stock Jumps 5.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) rose 5.1% 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.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 125,386 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,167. This trade represents a 51.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 66.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IBRX. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in ImmunityBio in the second quarter worth $1,287,000. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in ImmunityBio during the 1st quarter valued at about $18,770,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,207,000. Winning Points Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the 4th quarter worth about $1,430,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,736,819 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

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

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $49.70 million. Analysts expect 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.