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

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial began coverage on Xencor in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Xencor from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Xencor from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.00.

Xencor Trading Down 5.8%

NASDAQ XNCR opened at $12.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 6.25, a current ratio of 6.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Xencor has a 52 week low of $6.92 and a 52 week high of $18.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $936.55 million, a PE ratio of -10.30 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $13.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.85.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Xencor

In other news, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 114,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.71, for a total transaction of $1,796,862.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 466,635 shares in the company, valued at $7,330,835.85. The trade was a 19.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 73,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total transaction of $1,153,329.24. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 236,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,718,943.28. This represents a 23.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 5.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Xencor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,677,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Xencor by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 265,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,070,000 after acquiring an additional 14,216 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Xencor in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Xencor in the fourth quarter valued at $490,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 4th quarter worth $1,343,000.

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.