Johnson & Johnson Purchases New Shares in Xencor, Inc. $XNCR

Key Points

• Johnson & Johnson acquired 748,062 Xencor shares during the second quarter, worth approximately $12.0 million, giving it a 1.01% stake and making Xencor its eighth-largest portfolio holding.
• Several institutional investors increased their Xencor positions, including BVF, Legal & General, State Street, Jefferies Financial Group and RTW Investments.
• Xencor reported a quarterly loss of $0.29 per share, beating the expected $0.80 loss, while revenue of $51.22 million exceeded estimates and rose 17.4% year over year. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $24.86.

Johnson & Johnson purchased a new position in Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNCR - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 748,062 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $12,043,798,000. Xencor accounts for about 1.5% of Johnson & Johnson's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Johnson & Johnson owned 1.01% of Xencor at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BVF Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of 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 increased its stake in shares of Xencor by 603.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Xencor by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,507,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $69,006,000 after acquiring an additional 833,423 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Xencor by 620.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, RTW Investments LP lifted its position in Xencor by 8.9% during the 4th 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 during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Xencor from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Xencor from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Xencor from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised Xencor from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Xencor from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $24.86.

Xencor Stock Performance

Shares of Xencor stock opened at $23.34 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of -10.76 and a beta of 0.85. Xencor, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.13 and a 52-week high of $23.45.

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

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.

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