ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.20.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IBRX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. D. Boral Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Thursday, May 21st.

ImmunityBio Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ:IBRX opened at $7.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of -7.96 and a beta of 0.03. ImmunityBio has a 52-week low of $1.95 and a 52-week high of $12.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.72.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $51.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.70 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Christobel Selecky sold 159,478 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total transaction of $1,438,491.56. Following the sale, the director owned 35,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $316,277.28. This trade represents a 81.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.50, for a total value of $1,246,495.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 125,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,191,167. The trade was a 51.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 435,443 shares of company stock worth $3,918,819 over the last three months. 66.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,399,000 after buying an additional 7,736,819 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in ImmunityBio by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,455,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,582,000 after acquiring an additional 5,139,890 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ImmunityBio by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,777,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,899,000 after acquiring an additional 5,122,052 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in ImmunityBio by 439.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,152,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,182,000 after acquiring an additional 5,012,001 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in ImmunityBio during the first quarter valued at about $18,770,000. 8.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

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.