Piper Sandler Initiates Coverage on Adherex Technologies (NASDAQ:FENC)

Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Adherex Technologies (NASDAQ:FENC) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 131.66% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FENC. Zacks Research raised shares of Adherex Technologies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Adherex Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Adherex Technologies in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.50.

Adherex Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Adherex Technologies stock opened at $7.77 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.38. Adherex Technologies has a 1 year low of $4.68 and a 1 year high of $9.92. The company has a market capitalization of $265.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.78 and a beta of 0.78.

Adherex Technologies (NASDAQ:FENC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $12.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.43 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Adherex Technologies will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rosty Raykov sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.54, for a total value of $75,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 77,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,546.04. The trade was a 11.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Southpoint Capital Advisors Lp sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.50, for a total value of $7,500,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,744,741 shares in the company, valued at $20,585,557.50. This represents a 26.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,285,359 shares of company stock valued at $9,862,427. 11.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Adherex Technologies stock. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adherex Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:FENC) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000. 55.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Adherex Technologies

Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops product candidates for use in the treatment of cancer in the United States. Its lead product candidate is the Sodium Thiosulfate, which has completed the Phase III clinical trial for the prevention of cisplatin induced hearing loss or ototoxicity in children. The company was formerly known as Adherex Technologies Inc and changed its name to Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc in September 2014. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc was founded in 1996 and is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.