Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) VP John Desjarlais Sells 4,118 Shares of Stock

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) VP John Desjarlais sold 4,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.25, for a total transaction of $46,327.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 266,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,996,246.25. This trade represents a 1.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Xencor Trading Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:XNCR opened at $11.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $870.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.57 and a beta of 0.95. Xencor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.92 and a 12 month high of $18.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.03. The company has a quick ratio of 6.25, a current ratio of 6.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $28.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.97 million. Xencor had a negative net margin of 73.20% and a negative return on equity of 14.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 46.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.62) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xencor, Inc. will post -3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Xencor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BVF Inc. IL raised its holdings in Xencor by 160.3% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,133,720 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $109,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,393,579 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Xencor by 603.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,273,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,095 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Xencor by 22.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of Xencor by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,527,322 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $82,745,000 after purchasing an additional 766,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xencor by 620.4% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 720,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,030,000 after purchasing an additional 620,440 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XNCR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Xencor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Xencor in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a report on Monday, December 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned 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 an average target price of $25.00.

More Xencor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Xencor this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Xencor and Genentech have agreed to end their protein-therapeutics collaboration. This removes a strategic partner that could have provided development resources, milestone and/or royalty payments tied to the collaboration and could delay or change the path-to-market for affected programs; however, termination may return rights to Xencor and let the company seek new partners or advance programs independently. Xencor, Genentech to End Protein Therapeutics Collaboration
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insider sales by senior Xencor executives were disclosed this week: CEO Bassil Dahiyat sold 14,870 shares on March 5 and 6,606 shares on March 6 (total 21,476 shares), SVP Celia Eckert sold 5,011 shares across March 5–6, and VP John Desjarlais sold 6,620 shares across March 5–6. Aggregate proceeds reported are in the low six-figure range per trade. These clustered sales by top executives can be read negatively by the market (profit-taking or reduced insider conviction), unless part of pre-planned 10b5?1 arrangements (no such plan was disclosed in these notices). Relevant SEC filings: CEO Form 4(s) SVP Form 4(s) VP Form 4(s)

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.