ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Stock Price Up 3% – Should You Buy?

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX)’s share price rose 3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $8.87 and last traded at $8.82. Approximately 17,718,683 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 40,029,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.56.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on IBRX. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.00 price target (up from $7.00) on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. D. Boral Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on ImmunityBio from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Thursday, March 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $13.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.40.

ImmunityBio Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of -22.29 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.03.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $38.29 million for the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ImmunityBio

In other news, Director Barry J. Simon sold 165,000 shares of ImmunityBio stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.25, for a total transaction of $1,691,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,925,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,989,665.25. The trade was a 5.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christobel Selecky sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 501,967 shares of company stock valued at $4,466,412 in the last quarter. 69.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ImmunityBio

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 18.5% in the 4th 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. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ImmunityBio by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,455,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,582,000 after purchasing an additional 5,139,890 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ImmunityBio by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,920,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,113 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in ImmunityBio in the second quarter valued at approximately $20,497,000. Finally, Heights Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in ImmunityBio in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,152,000. 8.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.