ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Shares Cross Above 50 Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Key Points

• ImmunityBio shares moved above their 50-day moving average, reaching $8.83 and last trading at $8.81 on volume of about 7.1 million shares.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: six analysts rate the stock a Buy, one rates it a Sell, and the consensus is “Moderate Buy” with a $16 target price.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS loss of $0.22, worse than the expected $0.08 loss, although revenue of $51.24 million exceeded estimates; insiders also recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX - Get Free Report) shares passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $8.69 and traded as high as $8.83. ImmunityBio shares last traded at $8.81, with a volume of 7,140,913 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IBRX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on ImmunityBio from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.00.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $8.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.80. The company has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.08 and a beta of 0.02.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $51.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.30 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ImmunityBio

In other ImmunityBio news, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 81,056 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.50, for a total transaction of $851,088.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 100,309 shares in the company, valued at $1,053,244.50. The trade was a 44.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Barry J. Simon sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.75, for a total value of $268,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,777,788 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,861,221. The trade was a 0.89% 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. 66.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ImmunityBio

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its position in ImmunityBio by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 76,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of ImmunityBio by 16.0% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 193,379 shares of the company's stock worth $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 26,692 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 0.6% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 541,963 shares of the company's stock worth $5,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,039 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ImmunityBio by 839.2% in the third quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 12,754 shares of the company's stock worth $120,000 after acquiring an additional 11,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in ImmunityBio in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.58% of the company's stock.

ImmunityBio Company Profile

ImmunityBio, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing immunotherapies designed to activate and strengthen the body's immune response against cancer and infectious diseases. The company's approach combines immune-system modulators, cellular therapies, vaccines and other technologies intended to address multiple stages of the disease-treatment process.

Its lead product, Anktiva (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln, also known as N-803), is an interleukin-15 receptor agonist designed to stimulate natural killer cells and T cells.

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