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

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) saw a large 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 volume of 603,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on XNCR. BMO Capital Markets reissued 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. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Xencor in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Xencor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 68,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total transaction of $1,612,700.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 200,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,698,441.92. This represents a 25.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 49,278 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were 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 $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 136,050 shares of company stock worth $3,277,609. Corporate insiders own 5.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Xencor during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $540,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xencor by 100.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 155,568 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,128,000 after purchasing an additional 78,066 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Xencor in the 2nd quarter valued at $753,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Xencor during the 3rd quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Xencor by 18.6% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 168,431 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,387,000 after buying an additional 26,473 shares during the last quarter.

Xencor Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of XNCR stock opened at $18.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.71 and a beta of 0.72. Xencor has a fifty-two week low of $15.31 and a fifty-two week high of $27.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a current ratio of 6.23.

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

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.