HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN)

Key Points

• Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN) received a reaffirmed "buy" rating from HC Wainwright with a target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 406.61% from its current stock price.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings miss, with an EPS of ($1.00), falling short of the consensus estimate of ($0.78), along with revenue of $25.70 million against expected figures of $49.71 million.
• Institutional investors hold 61.46% of Agenus's shares, with notable increases in positions from Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America during the fourth quarter.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $23.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's target price would suggest a potential upside of 448.27% from the company's previous close.

AGEN has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Agenus to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Agenus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Agenus from $4.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.50.

Agenus Stock Performance

Shares of Agenus stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $4.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 197,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 804,075. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $5.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.77. Agenus has a one year low of $1.38 and a one year high of $7.34. The stock has a market cap of $133.65 million, a P/E ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 1.44.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.00) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.78) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $25.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.71 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Agenus will post -12.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Agenus

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Agenus during the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Savant Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $73,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. 61.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Agenus Company Profile

Agenus Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops immuno-oncology products in the United States and internationally. The company offers Retrocyte Display, an antibody expression platform for the identification of fully human and humanized monoclonal antibodies; and display technologies.