Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.00.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on XENE shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $200,922.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $968,378.84. The trade was a 17.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sherry Aulin sold 18,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $770,997.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 707,222 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,843,000 after buying an additional 46,964 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 825,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,480,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,419,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $172,315,000 after acquiring an additional 97,732 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 439,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,287,000 after acquiring an additional 17,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1,263.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 976,783 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,456,000 after acquiring an additional 905,129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XENE opened at $39.19 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of -13.90 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.80. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $50.99.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc, a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics to treat patients with neurological disorders in Canada. Its clinical development pipeline includes XEN1101, a novel and potent Kv7 potassium channel opener, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders.