ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 109,024,436 shares, a growth of 23.1% from the November 30th total of 88,553,549 shares. Approximately 36.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,201,119 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.3 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,201,119 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.3 days. Approximately 36.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IBRX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,655,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,032,000 after buying an additional 5,837,898 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in ImmunityBio during the second quarter worth $20,497,000. Heights Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in ImmunityBio in the third quarter valued at $16,152,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ImmunityBio by 34.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,777,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 53.7% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 5,297,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,851,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on ImmunityBio from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, D. Boral Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.40.

ImmunityBio Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of ImmunityBio stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $1.98. 7,927,058 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,899,231. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.82 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.45. ImmunityBio has a fifty-two week low of $1.83 and a fifty-two week high of $4.27.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $32.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.88 million. As a group, analysts expect that ImmunityBio will post -0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About ImmunityBio

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.