424,191 Shares in ImmunityBio, Inc. $IBRX Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 424,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,716,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 34,083,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,399,000 after acquiring an additional 7,736,819 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in ImmunityBio by 45.4% in 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ImmunityBio by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,777,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,899,000 after purchasing an additional 5,122,052 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in ImmunityBio by 439.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,152,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,182,000 after purchasing an additional 5,012,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in ImmunityBio during the first quarter valued at $18,770,000. Institutional investors own 8.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ImmunityBio Trading Up 3.0%

IBRX stock opened at $8.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of -8.44 and a beta of 0.04. ImmunityBio, Inc. has a 12 month low of $1.95 and a 12 month high of $12.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $7.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.88.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $51.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.70 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ImmunityBio

In related news, Director Christobel Selecky sold 159,478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.02, for a total value of $1,438,491.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 35,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $316,277.28. This represents a 81.98% 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 Simon sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.88, for a total transaction of $197,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,802,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,085,969.44. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 412,410 shares of company stock worth $3,753,442 over the last three months. 66.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.