Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $11.00 and last traded at $10.9850, with a volume of 2492076 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $10.80.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on IOVA. TD Cowen upped their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $6.00 price target on Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.56.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics during the second quarter worth $153,744,000. Palo Alto Investors LP purchased a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $22,032,229. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $20,773,000. Knott David M Jr acquired a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $5,616,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,406,000. 77.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Trading Up 1.6%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 0.83.

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, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $99.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.83 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 40.51% and a negative net margin of 89.11%.The firm’s revenue was up 65.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.33) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

About Iovance Biotherapeutics

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing individualized cell therapies for patients with cancer. Its platform uses tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), immune cells collected from a patient’s tumor, expanded in a manufacturing facility and returned to the patient to help recognize and attack cancer cells.

The company’s lead product, Amtagvi (lifileucel), is an autologous TIL therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for certain adults with unresectable or metastatic melanoma that has progressed following prior treatment.