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

Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,130,000 shares, an increase of 10.6% from the September 30th total of 2,830,000 shares. Approximately 14.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 421,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.4 days.

Agenus Price Performance

Shares of AGEN stock opened at $4.41 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $5.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.08. Agenus has a 12 month low of $4.18 and a 12 month high of $19.69. The company has a market capitalization of $92.61 million, a PE ratio of -0.34 and a beta of 1.37.

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.52) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.33) by ($1.19). The business had revenue of $23.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($4.00) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Agenus will post -10.87 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agenus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Agenus in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the second quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the second quarter valued at approximately $441,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agenus by 52.0% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 9,422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Agenus in the second quarter valued at approximately $614,000. 61.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGEN has been the topic of several research reports. B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Agenus from $42.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 price target (up from $3.00) on shares of Agenus in a research note on Friday, July 19th. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Agenus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Agenus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Agenus from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.