Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) Short Interest Up 24.8% in September

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,830,000 shares, an increase of 24.8% from the August 31st total of 4,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 530,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 11.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XNCR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price target on shares of Xencor in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Xencor from $58.00 to $40.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Xencor from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Xencor from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Xencor in a report on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.78.

Xencor Stock Performance

Shares of Xencor stock opened at $20.25 on Monday. Xencor has a one year low of $15.31 and a one year high of $26.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of -9.25 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 6.92 and a current ratio of 6.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.32.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $16.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.13 million. Xencor had a negative net margin of 132.74% and a negative return on equity of 28.23%. Xencor’s quarterly revenue was down 62.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.37) EPS. Research analysts expect that Xencor will post -4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Xencor news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 36,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.32, for a total value of $665,547.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 192,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,523,284.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of XNCR. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Xencor during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $212,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Xencor in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Xencor by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 119,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,271,000 after purchasing an additional 22,107 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Xencor in the 2nd quarter valued at $753,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Xencor in the 2nd quarter valued at $326,000.

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.