Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) Trading 9.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) shares were up 9.9% on Wednesday after Citizens Jmp upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to a market outperform rating. Citizens Jmp now has a $5.00 price target on the stock. Iovance Biotherapeutics traded as high as $4.13 and last traded at $4.11. Approximately 11,445,895 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 13,949,900 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.74.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on IOVA. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $2.00 target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Chardan Capital cut their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iovance Biotherapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iovance Biotherapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 658.9% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 47,277 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 41,047 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,251,665 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,417,000 after purchasing an additional 306,195 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 148.4% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 522,934 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,428,000 after purchasing an additional 312,413 shares in the last quarter. VARCOV Co. bought a new stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 310,641 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 118,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.03% of the company’s stock.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.69 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.76 and a 200-day moving average of $2.45.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.61 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 54.54% and a negative net margin of 148.41%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.24 EPS for the current fiscal 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.