Needham & Company LLC Cuts Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) Price Target to $60.00

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $78.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.62% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Xenon Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Friday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Xenon Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.53.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:XENE opened at $57.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.10 and a beta of 0.61. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $35.97 and a 12 month high of $72.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.07.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.05. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.07) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -4.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Xenon Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Steven Gannon sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.06, for a total transaction of $640,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,870 shares in the company, valued at $119,792.20. This represents a 84.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Christopher Kenney sold 7,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total value of $425,847.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $120.50. The trade was a 99.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 2.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 566.8% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 62,183 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,753,000 after buying an additional 52,857 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $6,813,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,382 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $67,000. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:XENE) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The company uses its expertise in ion channels, which regulate the electrical activity of nerve cells, to discover and advance potential treatments for conditions with significant unmet medical needs.

Xenon’s leading investigational product is azetukalner (XEN1101), an oral, small-molecule potassium-channel opener being studied in epilepsy, including focal-onset seizures, and major depressive disorder.