Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on XNCR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective (down from $18.00) on shares of Xencor in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xencor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.38.

Xencor Price Performance

Shares of Xencor stock opened at $13.06 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $12.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.64. Xencor has a twelve month low of $6.92 and a twelve month high of $18.69. The company has a current ratio of 6.25, a quick ratio of 6.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $957.82 million, a P/E ratio of -10.53 and a beta of 0.99.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.55. The company had revenue of $28.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.97 million. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 14.58% and a negative net margin of 73.20%.The firm’s revenue was down 46.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xencor will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 6,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total transaction of $72,798.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 546,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,020,402.32. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 2,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $27,572.04. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 263,831 shares in the company, valued at $2,907,417.62. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 44,020 shares of company stock worth $499,817. 5.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Xencor by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 21,528 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 3,086 shares in the last quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Xencor in the 4th quarter worth $1,677,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Xencor by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 265,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,070,000 after buying an additional 14,216 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Xencor in the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Xencor during the fourth quarter valued at about $490,000.

About Xencor

Xencor, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the design and development of engineered protein therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. The company applies its proprietary XmAb® platform to manipulate antibody structure and function, creating molecules with enhanced immune engagement and extended half-life. Xencor’s research programs span a range of therapeutic modalities, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies and cytokine-based fusion proteins.

The XmAb® platform enables precise modification of the Fc region to augment key properties such as receptor binding, effector function and pharmacokinetics.