Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 190,522 Shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. $IOVA

Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) by 65.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 482,975 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 190,522 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics were worth $1,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IOVA. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 161.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 522,887 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 322,680 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 279.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 59,540 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 43,829 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 30.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,571,902 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,846 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 202.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,777,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $19,239,000 after buying an additional 3,869,617 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 112.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 47,466 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 25,083 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $2.00 to $4.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Chardan Capital lowered their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iovance Biotherapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.88.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Price Performance

IOVA opened at $5.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $2.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of -4.58 and a beta of 0.69. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $1.64 and a 1 year high of $5.35.

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