ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) Trading Down 7.6% Following Insider Selling

ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) shares were down 7.6% on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $8.67 and last traded at $8.7230. Approximately 3,883,821 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 26,095,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.44.

Specifically, Director Christobel Selecky sold 159,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total transaction of $1,438,491.56. Following the sale, the director directly owned 35,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $316,277.28. This represents a 81.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Cheryl Cohen sold 131,210 shares of ImmunityBio stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.50, for a total transaction of $1,246,495.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 125,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,191,167. This represents a 51.13% decrease in their position. 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. In other ImmunityBio news, Director Christobel Selecky sold 95,722 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.01, for a total value of $862,455.22. Following the sale, the director directly owned 32,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,878.73. This represents a 74.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on IBRX shares. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. D. Boral Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of ImmunityBio in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Six 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.20.

ImmunityBio Trading Up 1.3%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $7.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.86. The firm has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.36 and a beta of 0.01.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.54). The company had revenue of $44.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.07 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ImmunityBio

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heights Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio in the third quarter valued at approximately $16,152,000. MOR Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in ImmunityBio during the 4th quarter worth $494,000. Winning Points Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ImmunityBio during the 4th quarter worth $1,430,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ImmunityBio by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,777,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,899,000 after purchasing an additional 5,122,052 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in ImmunityBio by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,995,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,951,000 after purchasing an additional 315,025 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.