Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

XNCR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Xencor in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Xencor from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Xencor from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

Xencor Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ XNCR opened at $12.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $902.08 million, a PE ratio of -9.92 and a beta of 0.95. Xencor has a 1-year low of $6.92 and a 1-year high of $18.69. The company has a current ratio of 6.25, a quick ratio of 6.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.88.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Xencor news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 73,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total value 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 trade represents a 23.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 114,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.71, for a total transaction of $1,796,862.67. Following 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 5.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in XNCR. BVF Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Xencor by 160.3% in the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,133,720 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $109,217,000 after buying an additional 4,393,579 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Xencor by 603.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,273,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,095 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Xencor by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,507,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,006,000 after purchasing an additional 833,423 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Xencor by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,527,322 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $82,745,000 after purchasing an additional 766,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Xencor by 620.4% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 720,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,030,000 after buying an additional 620,440 shares in the last quarter.

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.