Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) Trading Up 11% Following Analyst Upgrade

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) shares were up 11% on Wednesday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $11.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Iovance Biotherapeutics traded as high as $7.75 and last traded at $7.8040. Approximately 8,219,844 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 15,481,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.03.

Several other research analysts have also commented on IOVA. Chardan Capital reduced their price target on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $6.00 price objective on Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.38.

Institutional Trading of Iovance Biotherapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 818,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,407,000 after acquiring an additional 409,449 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth about $6,406,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics during the second quarter worth about $2,726,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,645,702 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,282,000 after buying an additional 1,106,592 shares during the period. Finally, Knott David M Jr purchased a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,616,000. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.71 and a beta of 0.71.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $198.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.83 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 89.11% and a negative return on equity of 40.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 65.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.33) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company specializing in the development and commercialization of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The company’s lead product candidate, lifileucel (formerly LN‐144), is an autologous TIL therapy in late‐stage clinical development for patients with advanced melanoma. Iovance’s pipeline also includes next‐generation TIL programs such as LN‐145 for cervical and other human papillomavirus (HPV)‐related cancers, as well as exploratory studies in head and neck, non‐small cell lung, gastric and other solid tumor indications.

Iovance’s TIL platform harnesses a patient’s own immune system by isolating, expanding and reinfusing tumor‐reactive lymphocytes.