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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.00.

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

Insider Transactions at Xenon Pharmaceuticals

In other Xenon Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Sherry Aulin sold 18,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $770,997.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value of $200,922.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,573 shares in the company, valued at $968,378.84. This represents a 17.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,946 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 436,460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,011,000 after purchasing an additional 26,253 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 64.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 92,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,622,000 after purchasing an additional 36,500 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $464,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $1,574,000. 95.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XENE opened at $38.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of -13.66 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.37 and its 200 day moving average is $40.79. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.73) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.13 EPS for the current year.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.