Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.33.

Several brokerages have commented on IOVA. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ IOVA opened at $7.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.35. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a 1 year low of $6.70 and a 1 year high of $18.33.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $58.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.54 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 58.43% and a negative net margin of 451.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics will post -1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iovance Biotherapeutics

In other news, Director Ryan D. Maynard sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.06, for a total transaction of $503,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,500 shares in the company, valued at $75,450. This trade represents a 86.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 12.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iovance Biotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IOVA. Perceptive Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 34.6% in the second quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 25,933,142 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $207,984,000 after buying an additional 6,660,151 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 195.1% in the 2nd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,132,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,731,688 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the second quarter worth $12,929,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 59.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,033,184 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,496,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 4.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,201,978 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $123,967,000 after purchasing an additional 576,801 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.03% of the company’s stock.

About Iovance Biotherapeutics

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, develops and commercializes cell therapies using autologous tumor infiltrating lymphocyte for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and other solid tumor cancers in the United States. The company offers Amtagvi, a tumor-derived autologous T cell immunotherapy used to treat adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; and Proleukin, an interleukin-2 product for the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.