Iovance Biotherapeutics Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:IOVA)

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 21,102 call options on the company. This is an increase of 159% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,163 call options.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IOVA opened at $1.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $705.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.87. Iovance Biotherapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $12.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.30.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by ($0.04). Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 161.44% and a negative return on equity of 52.87%. The firm had revenue of $59.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.14 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics will post -1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Iovance Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CM Management LLC lifted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 66.7% in the first quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 500,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 6.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 918,210 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 52,376 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the first quarter valued at $2,953,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics in the first quarter valued at $4,191,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 28.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,694,122 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,631,000 after buying an additional 1,047,335 shares during the last quarter. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $18.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $20.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research raised Iovance Biotherapeutics to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Chardan Capital decreased their target price on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.80.

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.