Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Trading Up 10.3% – Should You Buy?

Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) rose 10.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $13.92 and last traded at $13.9390. 351,163 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 775,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on XNCR. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xencor from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Xencor from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Xencor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.50.

Xencor Trading Up 12.0%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $12.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.17 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Institutional Trading of Xencor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Xencor by 118.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,568 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 3,018 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Xencor during the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Xencor during the 4th quarter worth $81,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Xencor during the second quarter valued at about $122,000. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Xencor during the third quarter valued at about $139,000.

About Xencor

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.