Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) Short Interest Up 5.6% in April

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 48,980,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the March 31st total of 46,380,000 shares. Approximately 22.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 8,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Iovance Biotherapeutics

In other news, Director Merrill A. Mcpeak bought 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $9.15 per share, for a total transaction of $2,287,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 320,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,929,372.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Iovance Biotherapeutics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IOVA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 8.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,143,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,082 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $9,109,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $8,563,000. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the third quarter worth about $4,482,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 41.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,643,155 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,026,000 after acquiring an additional 772,905 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.03% of the company’s stock.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Trading Up 6.1 %

NASDAQ IOVA opened at $12.50 on Thursday. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a 1-year low of $3.21 and a 1-year high of $18.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a PE ratio of -6.65 and a beta of 0.62.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $0.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.64) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Iovance Biotherapeutics will post -1.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Chardan Capital upped their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $29.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Iovance Biotherapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.64.

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.