Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on XNCR. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Xencor from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Xencor from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Xencor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.25.

Xencor Price Performance

XNCR opened at $15.67 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.69 and its 200 day moving average is $12.76. Xencor has a fifty-two week low of $6.92 and a fifty-two week high of $18.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.84 and a beta of 0.86.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by ($0.96). Xencor had a negative return on equity of 28.77% and a negative net margin of 177.10%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.66) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 86.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Xencor will post -3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xencor

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BVF Inc. IL grew its holdings in Xencor by 160.3% during the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,133,720 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $109,217,000 after buying an additional 4,393,579 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 603.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,273,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,095 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,507,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,006,000 after acquiring an additional 833,423 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Xencor by 620.4% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 720,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,030,000 after acquiring an additional 620,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP grew its stake in Xencor by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 6,777,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,763,000 after acquiring an additional 556,407 shares in the last quarter.

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.