B. Riley Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN)

B. Riley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 756,956 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,074,000. Agenus makes up 1.7% of B. Riley Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Agenus by 7.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 483,059 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 32,016 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Agenus by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 467,771 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares during the period. Gilead Sciences Inc. bought a new position in Agenus in the 4th quarter worth $635,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Agenus by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 208,933 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $572,000 after purchasing an additional 26,870 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Agenus by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 4,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Agenus in a report on Wednesday. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Agenus in a research report on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Agenus from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Agenus from $6.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.75.

Agenus Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AGEN opened at $2.89 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.02. Agenus Inc. has a 12-month low of $1.38 and a 12-month high of $19.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.26 and a beta of 1.58.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.36) by $0.32. The company had revenue of $26.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.09 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Agenus Inc. will post -12.55 EPS for the current year.

Agenus Company Profile

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.