Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 620,440 Shares of Xencor, Inc. $XNCR

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group significantly increased its stake in Xencor, adding 620,440 shares in the fourth quarter and bringing its total holding to 720,440 shares, worth about $11.0 million.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including SVP Celia Eckert and VP John R. Desjarlais, with total insider sales over the last 90 days reaching 44,020 shares.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the stock currently carries an average Hold rating and a consensus target price of $24.50, even as some firms raised targets while others issued downgrades.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR - Free Report) by 620.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 720,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 620,440 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.01% of Xencor worth $11,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 209.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,187 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position 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 valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xencor by 114.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,947 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Xencor during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Xencor during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $81,000.

Insider Transactions at Xencor

In other news, SVP Celia Eckert sold 3,244 shares of Xencor stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.25, for a total transaction of $36,495.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 78,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $885,206.25. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 2,502 shares of Xencor stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $27,572.04. Following the sale, the vice president owned 263,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,907,417.62. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,020 shares of company stock worth $499,817. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on XNCR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Xencor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Xencor from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Xencor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Xencor from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Xencor in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.50.

Xencor Price Performance

Shares of XNCR opened at $11.31 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $838.52 million, a PE ratio of -4.94 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.18 and a 200 day moving average of $13.42. Xencor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.92 and a 52-week high of $18.69.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $4.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 86.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.66) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Xencor, Inc. will post -3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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