Investors Buy High Volume of ImmunityBio Call Options (NASDAQ:IBRX)

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 23,649 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 308% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,801 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IBRX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in ImmunityBio by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,675,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,802,000 after acquiring an additional 4,342,386 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio in the third quarter valued at about $5,874,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,714,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 200.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 162,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 108,431 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,142,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,737,000 after purchasing an additional 92,991 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

Shares of IBRX stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 22,622,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,273,971. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.68 and a beta of 1.23. ImmunityBio has a 1-year low of $1.25 and a 1-year high of $6.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $5.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.11.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $0.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.03 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio will post -0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of ImmunityBio from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in discovering, developing, and commercializing next-generation immuno- and cellular therapies for cancer and infectious diseases in the United States and Europe. The company offers immunotherapy and cell therapy platforms, including antibody cytokine fusion protein N-803, vaccine delivery technologies, and natural killer cell therapies.