Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA)

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 23,866 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 44% compared to the average daily volume of 16,524 call options.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of IOVA opened at $13.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of -7.38 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.91 and its 200 day moving average is $9.63. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a 12-month low of $3.21 and a 12-month high of $18.33.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $0.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.64) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Iovance Biotherapeutics will post -1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Iovance Biotherapeutics

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 52.3% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 344,042 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,565,000 after buying an additional 118,133 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 41.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,643,155 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,026,000 after purchasing an additional 772,905 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 130,287 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 42,692 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings 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 worth $22,916,000 after buying an additional 609,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 8.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,143,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748,082 shares in the last quarter. 77.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on IOVA shares. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Chardan Capital increased their price objective on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $29.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Iovance Biotherapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.