Short Interest in Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) Expands By 5.7%

Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,800,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the August 15th total of 2,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 724,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 13.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Agenus Price Performance

Shares of Agenus stock opened at $6.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $130.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.49 and a beta of 1.36. Agenus has a 52-week low of $4.41 and a 52-week high of $25.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.47.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.33) by ($1.19). The company had revenue of $23.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($4.00) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Agenus will post -10.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agenus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RPO LLC bought a new position in Agenus in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Agenus in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Agenus during the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in Agenus during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Agenus in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $106,000. 61.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AGEN. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Agenus from $42.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Baird R W lowered Agenus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird cut Agenus from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target (up from $3.00) on shares of Agenus in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright cut Agenus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $40.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agenus presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

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.