Piper Sandler Upgrades Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) to Overweight

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $30.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $20.00. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.19% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on XNCR. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Xencor from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $32.00) on shares of Xencor in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.50.

Xencor Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ XNCR opened at $25.60 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.00 and a beta of 0.69. 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 has a one year low of $15.31 and a one year high of $26.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.51.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last issued 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. Xencor had a negative net margin of 232.77% and a negative return on equity of 30.92%. The company had revenue of $10.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 81.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Xencor will post -3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Xencor

In other news, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 49,278 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 352,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,487,443.05. This represents a 12.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 68,684 shares of Xencor stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total value of $1,612,700.32. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 200,104 shares in the company, valued at $4,698,441.92. This represents a 25.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,328 shares of company stock valued at $2,879,673. Company insiders own 5.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Xencor by 1.6% in the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 43,643 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Xencor by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 23,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Xencor by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 31,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its position in Xencor by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 12,156 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Xencor by 7.8% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 14,076 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter.

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.