Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) Short Interest Up 21.4% in January

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,990,000 shares, an increase of 21.4% from the December 31st total of 4,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 603,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.3 days.

Insider Transactions at Xencor

In related news, Director Alan Bruce Montgomery sold 13,301 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.03, for a total transaction of $359,526.03. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $247,054.20. This represents a 59.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 49,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total value of $1,186,121.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 352,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,487,443.05. The trade was a 12.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,050 shares of company stock worth $3,277,609 over the last ninety days. 5.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Xencor

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Xencor by 147.3% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,120,229 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $62,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,440 shares in the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Xencor in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,563,000. RTW Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Xencor during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,563,000. Braidwell LP acquired a new stake in shares of Xencor during the third quarter worth approximately $9,380,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Xencor in the third quarter worth $7,087,000.

Xencor Stock Down 1.2 %

Xencor stock opened at $18.28 on Friday. Xencor has a one year low of $15.31 and a one year high of $27.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $23.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 6.23 and a quick ratio of 6.23.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.98) by $0.27. The business had revenue of $10.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.59 million. Xencor had a negative net margin of 232.77% and a negative return on equity of 30.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 81.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Xencor will post -3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XNCR shares. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Xencor in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Xencor in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler upgraded Xencor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Xencor presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $34.88.

Xencor Company Profile

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.