Short Interest in Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) Drops By 94.6%

Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,590,000 shares, a decrease of 94.6% from the March 31st total of 47,720,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 665,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 13.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Agenus

In other news, insider Garo H. Armen purchased 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $13.00 per share, with a total value of $325,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,874. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agenus

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AGEN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Agenus by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,938,439 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $30,440,000 after buying an additional 432,202 shares during the period. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in Agenus by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 6,307,030 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,127,000 after buying an additional 1,609,100 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Agenus by 3,008.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,306,248 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 2,232,064 shares during the period. Readystate Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Agenus by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 2,016,783 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 252,124 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Agenus by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 1,680,974 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,900,000 after buying an additional 243,023 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Agenus in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on shares of Agenus from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Agenus in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Agenus Stock Performance

Shares of AGEN stock opened at $11.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.94 and a 200-day moving average of $13.73. Agenus has a 12-month low of $4.78 and a 12-month high of $42.60.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.60) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($2.20). The firm had revenue of $83.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.21 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agenus will post -8.21 EPS for the current year.

About Agenus

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.