Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 56,920,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the November 15th total of 53,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.3 days. Approximately 23.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Price Performance

IOVA stock opened at $7.81 on Wednesday. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a 1 year low of $6.70 and a 1 year high of $18.33. The company has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.24 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.34.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $58.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.54 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 58.43% and a negative net margin of 451.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics will post -1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on IOVA shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ryan D. Maynard sold 50,000 shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.06, for a total transaction of $503,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,450. The trade was a 86.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 12.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Iovance Biotherapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IOVA. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $112,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $1,705,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth $174,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 24.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,034,760 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,299,000 after purchasing an additional 200,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 361,187 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 37,521 shares during the period. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.