23,679 Shares in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) Acquired by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 23,679 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in IOVA. Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 34.6% in the second quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 25,933,142 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $207,984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,660,151 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC raised its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 195.1% in the 2nd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,132,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,139,000 after buying an additional 2,731,688 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Iovance Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $12,929,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 59.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,033,184 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,872,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics during the second quarter valued at about $2,065,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.03% of the company’s stock.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of IOVA stock opened at $7.83 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $9.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.35. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.70 and a 12-month high of $18.33.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $58.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm earned ($0.46) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on IOVA. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ryan D. Maynard sold 50,000 shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.06, for a total value of $503,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,450. This trade represents a 86.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.