Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $28.31 and last traded at $28.4590, with a volume of 170909 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on XNCR. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Xencor from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Xencor from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Xencor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Xencor from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xencor in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.86.

Xencor Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of -13.25 and a beta of 0.85.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.80) by $0.51. Xencor had a negative return on equity of 28.66% and a negative net margin of 155.59%.The business had revenue of $51.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.41) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xencor, Inc. will post -3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xencor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Xencor in the 2nd quarter worth $219,785,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Xencor in the second quarter valued at about $163,919,000. BVF Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Xencor by 160.3% in the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 7,133,720 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $109,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,393,579 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake 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 worth $14,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,095 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Xencor by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,507,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $69,006,000 after purchasing an additional 833,423 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.