Long Focus Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. $IOVA

Key Points

• Long Focus Capital cut its stake in Iovance by 22.9% in Q3, selling 2,703,493 shares and ending the period with 9,116,507 shares (about 2.30% of the company, valued at $19.78M).
• Other institutional activity was mixed but sizeable — Squarepoint more than doubled its position, Invenomic added 27.1%, several firms initiated new stakes, and institutional investors now own roughly 77.03% of Iovance.
• Analysts are split with a consensus rating of Hold and a $8.88 average price target; Iovance trades near $4.04 (market cap $1.66B) and recently beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates (EPS -$0.18 vs. -$0.22) but remains unprofitable.

Long Focus Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA - Free Report) by 22.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,116,507 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 2,703,493 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC owned about 2.30% of Iovance Biotherapeutics worth $19,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 115.2% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 856,569 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,473,000 after acquiring an additional 458,540 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP raised its position in Iovance Biotherapeutics by 27.1% during the third quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 10,541,608 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $22,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,945 shares during the period. Mirador Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,118,000. Voss Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,157,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics by 326.5% in the 2nd quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 192,378 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 147,271 shares during the period. 77.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on IOVA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "sell" rating and set a $2.00 target price on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Chardan Capital lowered their price target on Iovance Biotherapeutics from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from $2.00 to $4.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Iovance Biotherapeutics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $8.88.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Stock Up 2.0%

IOVA opened at $4.04 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.10 and a 200 day moving average of $2.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.61 and a beta of 0.68. Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $1.64 and a 52-week high of $5.63.

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:IOVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.61 million. Iovance Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 54.54% and a negative net margin of 148.41%. Equities analysts anticipate that Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Iovance Biotherapeutics

Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company specializing in the development and commercialization of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The company's lead product candidate, lifileucel (formerly LN‐144), is an autologous TIL therapy in late‐stage clinical development for patients with advanced melanoma. Iovance's pipeline also includes next‐generation TIL programs such as LN‐145 for cervical and other human papillomavirus (HPV)‐related cancers, as well as exploratory studies in head and neck, non‐small cell lung, gastric and other solid tumor indications.

Iovance's TIL platform harnesses a patient's own immune system by isolating, expanding and reinfusing tumor‐reactive lymphocytes.

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