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

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 25,953 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 46% compared to the typical volume of 17,825 call options.

Insider Activity at ImmunityBio

In other news, Director Barry J. Simon sold 151,967 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.20, for a total transaction of $1,094,162.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,091,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,259,548.80. This trade represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Christobel Selecky sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.51, for a total value of $187,750.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 226,967 shares of company stock valued at $1,531,912 in the last ninety days. 69.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Slow Capital Inc. purchased a new position in ImmunityBio during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in ImmunityBio during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in ImmunityBio in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. 8.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

ImmunityBio stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $6.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,597,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,245,883. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.91. ImmunityBio has a 12 month low of $1.83 and a 12 month high of $8.28. The stock has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.83 and a beta of 0.16.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IBRX. D. Boral Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of ImmunityBio from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of ImmunityBio from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on ImmunityBio from $6.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ImmunityBio currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.80.

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.