Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Strong-Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Sunday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on AGEN. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target (up from $8.00) on shares of Agenus in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Agenus from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research lowered Agenus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Agenus from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Agenus Stock Performance

AGEN stock opened at $6.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.47 and a 200-day moving average of $3.82. Agenus has a 12 month low of $2.71 and a 12 month high of $8.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.47 million, a P/E ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The biotechnology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.08). The firm had revenue of $33.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $129.50 million. Agenus had a net margin of 69.33% and a negative return on equity of 45.12%. Sell-side analysts predict that Agenus will post -0.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agenus

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in Agenus in the 1st quarter worth $88,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Agenus by 3,080.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 441,486 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 427,604 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Agenus during the first quarter valued at about $58,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Agenus by 608.0% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 78,637 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 67,530 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Agenus during the second quarter valued at about $1,976,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.46% of the company’s stock.

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.