Wall Street Zen Upgrades Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) to Buy

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Agenus in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Agenus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.50.

Agenus Trading Up 7.7%

Shares of AGEN opened at $4.06 on Monday. Agenus has a twelve month low of $1.56 and a twelve month high of $7.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.83 and a beta of 1.60.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The biotechnology company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $1.83. Agenus had a negative net margin of 2.67% and a negative return on equity of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $34.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.10 million. On average, analysts predict that Agenus will post -12.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agenus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGEN. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Agenus by 721.1% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 543,546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 477,346 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Agenus in the second quarter valued at $1,976,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Agenus by 3,080.3% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 441,486 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 427,604 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Agenus by 110.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 420,678 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 220,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Agenus in the second quarter valued at $906,000. 61.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Agenus

Agenus, Inc (NASDAQ:AGEN) is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts. The company focuses on the discovery and development of therapies designed to modulate the immune system’s response to cancer. Leveraging proprietary platforms in checkpoint modulation, vaccine technology and adjuvant systems, Agenus aims to deliver combination regimens that enhance antitumor activity across a variety of solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

Agenus’ pipeline includes monoclonal antibodies targeting immune checkpoints, cytokine-based therapeutics and vaccine candidates built on its engineered heat shock protein (HSP) platform.