Heights Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Position in ImmunityBio, Inc. $IBRX

Heights Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in ImmunityBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBRX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,565,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,000. ImmunityBio comprises 4.4% of Heights Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Heights Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.67% of ImmunityBio at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in ImmunityBio by 53.7% during the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 5,297,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,851,854 shares during the last quarter. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in ImmunityBio in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of ImmunityBio by 2.1% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 359,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 7,289 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in ImmunityBio during the third quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in ImmunityBio by 56.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 239,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 86,437 shares during the period. 8.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Christobel Selecky sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Barry J. Simon sold 75,000 shares of ImmunityBio stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total value of $900,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,850,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,238,360.21. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 501,967 shares of company stock valued at $4,466,412 in the last three months. 69.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on IBRX shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of ImmunityBio from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of ImmunityBio in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on ImmunityBio from $10.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on ImmunityBio in a report on Thursday, March 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price (up from $7.00) on shares of ImmunityBio in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.40.

ImmunityBio Price Performance

Shares of ImmunityBio stock opened at $8.21 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of -21.61 and a beta of -0.03. ImmunityBio, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.83 and a 1-year high of $12.43.

ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $38.29 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ImmunityBio, Inc. will post -0.92 EPS for the current year.

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.