Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Stock

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Wedbush from $26.00 to $30.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 56.00% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on XNCR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Xencor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Xencor from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Xencor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Xencor in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.12.

Xencor Trading Down 3.1%

XNCR stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $19.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 259,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 838,377. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -8.39 and a beta of 0.85. Xencor has a 12 month low of $6.92 and a 12 month high of $21.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.35 and its 200-day moving average is $13.27.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.80) by $0.51. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 28.77% and a negative net margin of 177.10%.The business had revenue of $51.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.41) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Xencor will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xencor

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XNCR. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 1st quarter valued at about $438,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Xencor by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 44,047 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 3,692 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Xencor by 89.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 726,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,732,000 after acquiring an additional 344,088 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Xencor by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,130 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 3,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Xencor by 170.9% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 330,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,594,000 after acquiring an additional 208,182 shares during the period.

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.