Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $26.93 and last traded at $26.91, with a volume of 27363 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on XNCR shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Xencor in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Xencor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler raised Xencor from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Xencor in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Xencor from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.50.

Xencor Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 6.23, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $21.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.00 and a beta of 0.69.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.98) by $0.27. The business had revenue of $10.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.59 million. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 30.92% and a negative net margin of 232.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 81.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Xencor, Inc. will post -3.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Xencor

In related news, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 49,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.07, for a total value of $1,186,121.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 352,615 shares in the company, valued at $8,487,443.05. This trade represents a 12.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 68,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.48, for a total value of $1,612,700.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,328 shares of company stock worth $2,879,673 in the last three months. 5.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XNCR. Quarry LP bought a new position in Xencor during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Xencor by 63.5% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 2nd quarter worth $154,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 2nd quarter worth $196,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Xencor during the 3rd quarter worth $205,000.

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.