Short Interest in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) Rises By 5.6%

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) saw a large growth in short interest in 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 shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 8,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Price Performance

IOVA opened at $12.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.65 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.38. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a one year low of $3.21 and a one year high of $18.33.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on IOVA. Barclays boosted their price target on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Merrill A. Mcpeak purchased 250,000 shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.15 per share, for a total transaction of $2,287,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 320,150 shares in the company, valued at $2,929,372.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iovance Biotherapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,812,820 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $185,468,000 after purchasing an additional 669,350 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 5,036,479 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $22,916,000 after buying an additional 609,738 shares during the last quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC lifted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 3,287,397 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,958,000 after acquiring an additional 337,279 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 41.3% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,747,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,203,000 after acquiring an additional 54,490 shares in the last quarter. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Company Profile

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.