Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Shares Up 7.8% on Strong Earnings

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) shot up 7.8% during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $15.62 and last traded at $15.50. 62,648 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 485,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.38.

The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.19. The company had revenue of $52.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.14 million. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 30.92% and a negative net margin of 232.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Xencor from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised Xencor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up from $32.00) on shares of Xencor in a report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xencor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alan Bruce Montgomery sold 1,421 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.03, for a total value of $38,409.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $247,054.20. The trade was a 13.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Xencor in the fourth quarter worth $101,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Xencor in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Xencor in the fourth quarter worth $1,227,000. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Xencor by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 845,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,439,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xencor in the fourth quarter worth $210,000.

Xencor Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.80 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.64. The company has a quick ratio of 6.23, a current ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

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.