Palo Alto Investors LP Grows Stock Position in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. $IOVA

Key Points

• Palo Alto Investors LP increased its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 5.6%, now owning 3,211,314 shares, which constitutes 2.0% of its investment portfolio.
• Analysts have recently downgraded Iovance Biotherapeutics with Chardan Capital cutting their price target from $25 to $20, while several other firms have issued mixed ratings spanning from "buy" to "sell."
• Iovance Biotherapeutics reported a loss of ($0.33) earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates and indicating a negative net margin of 161.44% with revenues below expectations.

Palo Alto Investors LP raised its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,211,314 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 169,629 shares during the quarter. Iovance Biotherapeutics makes up about 2.0% of Palo Alto Investors LP's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Palo Alto Investors LP owned about 0.96% of Iovance Biotherapeutics worth $10,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $2,399,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,430,221 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $17,979,000 after purchasing an additional 360,629 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 78.5% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 31,945 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 14,045 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,414,807 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $17,870,000 after buying an additional 166,231 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 56,400 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 2,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.03% of the company's stock.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Iovance Biotherapeutics stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $2.49. 15,204,959 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,607,810. The stock has a market cap of $901.01 million, a P/E ratio of -2.02 and a beta of 0.82. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $12.51. The firm's 50 day moving average is $2.38 and its 200 day moving average is $2.75.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $67.14 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IOVA has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Chardan Capital reduced their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.90.

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.