Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Shares Up 10.4% After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) shares were up 10.4% during trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $12.99 and last traded at $13.2250. Approximately 92,547 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 629,798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.98.

The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.55. The company had revenue of $28.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.97 million. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 20.44% and a negative net margin of 87.14%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 46.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.62) EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XNCR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Xencor in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Xencor from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Xencor from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Xencor from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

Insider Activity at Xencor

In other news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 73,367 shares of Xencor stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total value of $1,153,329.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 236,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,718,943.28. The trade was a 23.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 114,377 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.71, for a total value of $1,796,862.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 466,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,330,835.85. The trade was a 19.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Xencor

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 265,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,070,000 after acquiring an additional 14,216 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Xencor in the fourth quarter valued at $202,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Xencor in the fourth quarter valued at $490,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Xencor during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,343,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Xencor by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 16,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 4,037 shares during the last quarter.

Xencor Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $991.10 million, a PE ratio of -7.72 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.73.

Xencor Company Profile

Xencor, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the design and development of engineered protein therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. The company applies its proprietary XmAb® platform to manipulate antibody structure and function, creating molecules with enhanced immune engagement and extended half-life. Xencor’s research programs span a range of therapeutic modalities, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies and cytokine-based fusion proteins.

The XmAb® platform enables precise modification of the Fc region to augment key properties such as receptor binding, effector function and pharmacokinetics.