ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Trading Up 9.7% – Time to Buy?

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX)’s share price traded up 9.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $8.74 and last traded at $8.6770. Approximately 6,613,000 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 21,062,895 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on IBRX shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Friday, July 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ImmunityBio has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.20.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.74 and a beta of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $7.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.83.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.70 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at ImmunityBio

In other news, Director Barry Simon sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.88, for a total transaction of $197,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,802,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,085,969.44. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Christobel Selecky sold 159,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $1,438,491.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 35,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $316,277.28. This trade represents a 81.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 412,410 shares of company stock worth $3,753,442. Insiders own 66.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 29.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,736,819 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in ImmunityBio during the 2nd quarter worth $19,125,000. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in ImmunityBio in the 1st quarter valued at $18,770,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in ImmunityBio by 923.5% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,648,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,644,000 after buying an additional 1,487,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,314,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,511,000 after buying an additional 483,330 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing immunotherapies and other treatments designed to activate the immune system against cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s platform combines biologics, cell therapies, vaccines and other approaches intended to generate durable immune responses.

Its lead product, ANKTIVA (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln), is an interleukin-15 receptor agonist designed to stimulate natural killer cells and T cells.