Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Upgraded by Piper Sandler to “Overweight” Rating

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $30.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $20.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.19% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Xencor in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Xencor in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Xencor from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.50.

Xencor Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XNCR opened at $25.60 on Monday. Xencor has a 1-year low of $15.31 and a 1-year high of $26.84. The company has a current ratio of 6.23, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of -8.00 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.51.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.98) by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $10.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.59 million. Xencor had a negative net margin of 232.77% and a negative return on equity of 30.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 81.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Xencor will post -3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Xencor

In other news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 68,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total transaction of $1,612,700.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 200,104 shares in the company, valued at $4,698,441.92. This represents a 25.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 49,278 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total transaction of $1,186,121.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 352,615 shares in the company, valued at $8,487,443.05. This represents a 12.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 121,328 shares of company stock worth $2,879,673. 5.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 147.3% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,120,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $62,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,440 shares during the last quarter. Logos Global Management LP grew its stake in Xencor by 130.8% in the 2nd quarter. Logos Global Management LP now owns 1,500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,395,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares in the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Xencor in the 3rd quarter worth $11,563,000. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 3rd quarter valued at $11,563,000. Finally, Braidwell LP bought a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 3rd quarter worth $9,380,000.

About Xencor

Xencor, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of engineered monoclonal antibody and cytokine therapeutics to treat patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company provides Sotrovimab that targets the SARS-CoV-2 virus; Ultomiris for the treatment of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome; and Monjuvi for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.