Wells Fargo & Company Initiates Coverage on Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR)

Equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 53.97% from the stock’s previous close.

XNCR has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler raised Xencor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. 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 report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Xencor from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xencor has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.56.

Xencor Stock Performance

XNCR opened at $24.03 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of -7.51 and a beta of 0.69. Xencor has a 1 year low of $15.31 and a 1 year high of $27.24. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.98) by $0.27. The business had revenue of $10.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.59 million. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 30.92% and a negative net margin of 232.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 81.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.40) EPS. Research analysts expect that Xencor will post -3.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Xencor

In other Xencor news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 68,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,698,441.92. The trade was a 25.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Alan Bruce Montgomery sold 1,421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.03, for a total value of $38,409.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,140 shares in the company, valued at $247,054.20. This trade represents a 13.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 136,050 shares of company stock worth $3,277,609. Insiders own 5.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xencor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in XNCR. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in 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 valued at $62,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,440 shares during the period. Logos Global Management LP grew its stake in Xencor by 130.8% in the second quarter. Logos Global Management LP now owns 1,500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,395,000 after acquiring an additional 850,000 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Xencor in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,563,000. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in Xencor in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,563,000. Finally, Braidwell LP acquired a new stake in Xencor in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,380,000.

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.