Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,240,000 shares, a decrease of 17.9% from the May 31st total of 2,730,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 803,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 11.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGEN. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Agenus in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. B. Riley dropped their target price on Agenus from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Agenus in a report on Friday.

Agenus Stock Down 14.4 %

Agenus stock traded down $2.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $14.28. 668,869 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 681,041. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.94. Agenus has a one year low of $4.78 and a one year high of $38.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.88 million, a PE ratio of -1.23 and a beta of 1.32.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.58) by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $28.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Agenus will post -9.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Agenus

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Agenus by 13.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,401,122 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $19,953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,232 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Agenus by 3,008.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,306,248 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,232,064 shares during the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Agenus by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 2,016,783 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 252,124 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance lifted its stake in shares of Agenus by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Cardinal Strategic Wealth Guidance now owns 910,265 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agenus by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 858,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 236,500 shares during the last quarter. 61.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.