ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $7.82, but opened at $8.21. ImmunityBio shares last traded at $8.6340, with a volume of 7,906,407 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on IBRX shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Monday, December 29th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of ImmunityBio from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (up from $7.00) on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.40.

ImmunityBio Stock Up 9.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.56 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.77.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $38.29 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Barry J. Simon sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total value of $900,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,850,821 shares in the company, valued at $34,238,360.21. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Christobel Selecky sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 501,967 shares of company stock valued at $4,466,412. Insiders own 69.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ImmunityBio

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 347.7% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,324,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,246,000 after buying an additional 1,028,921 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 26.8% during the third 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 purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the second quarter valued at $20,497,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the 2nd quarter valued at $7,854,000. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 79.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 452,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 199,990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

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.