Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on XNCR. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Xencor from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Xencor from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Xencor in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Xencor Stock Down 5.8%

NASDAQ XNCR opened at $12.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $13.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.78. Xencor has a 52 week low of $6.92 and a 52 week high of $18.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $936.55 million, a P/E ratio of -10.30 and a beta of 0.98.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.55. Xencor had a negative net margin of 73.20% and a negative return on equity of 14.62%. The company had revenue of $28.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.62) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 46.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xencor will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Xencor news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 73,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 236,574 shares in the company, valued at $3,718,943.28. This represents a 23.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 114,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.71, for a total value of $1,796,862.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 466,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,330,835.85. The trade was a 19.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Xencor

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in Xencor by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 20,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 947 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Xencor by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,853 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Xencor by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 31,302 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares in the last quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Xencor by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 33,304 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Xencor by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,328 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares during the period.

Xencor Company Profile

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.