Legal & General Group Plc Invests $2.44 Million in ImmunityBio, Inc. $IBRX

Key Points

• Legal & General Group acquired 278,274 ImmunityBio shares worth approximately $2.44 million in the second quarter. Other institutions, including BlackRock and Vanguard, also increased or initiated positions, while institutional investors collectively own 8.58% of the company.
• ImmunityBio shares opened at $8.08, with a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, after the company reported a quarterly loss of $0.22 per share—worse than the $0.08 consensus estimate—despite revenue exceeding forecasts.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with six Buy ratings and one Sell rating producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $14.20; however, insiders sold about $3.75 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 278,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,436,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IBRX. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of ImmunityBio in the 2nd quarter worth $1,287,000. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in ImmunityBio during the first quarter worth $18,770,000. Winning Points Advisors LLC acquired a new position in ImmunityBio during the fourth quarter worth $1,430,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 29.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $298,399,000 after buying an additional 7,736,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,777,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,899,000 after buying an additional 5,122,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.58% of the company's stock.

ImmunityBio Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of IBRX opened at $8.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.33 and a beta of 0.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $7.90 and a 200 day moving average of $7.88. ImmunityBio, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1.95 and a 12 month high of $12.43.

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

Insider Activity at ImmunityBio

In other ImmunityBio news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 125,386 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,167. The trade was a 51.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Barry J. Simon sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.88, for a total transaction of $197,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,802,788 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,085,969.44. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,410 shares of company stock worth $3,753,442. 66.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on IBRX. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Thursday, May 21st. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Friday, July 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ImmunityBio currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.20.

ImmunityBio 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.

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