Xenon Pharmaceuticals Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:XENE)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 4,063 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,362% compared to the average volume of 165 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on XENE. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price (down previously from $48.00) on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.70.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

XENE opened at $39.68 on Thursday. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $26.74 and a 1 year high of $44.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of -11.18 and a beta of 1.10.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.15) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.16) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.81) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Xenon Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Ian Mortimer sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.16, for a total value of $1,004,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 31,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,257,088.32. This represents a 44.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XENE. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 439.0% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 251,147 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,426,000 after acquiring an additional 204,550 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,636,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 142,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,777,000 after purchasing an additional 9,851 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $401,000. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

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.