JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reiterates Neutral Rating for Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR)

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and cut its price target to $13 from $18, implying roughly a 7.9% upside from current levels.
• Xencor beat Q4 EPS expectations (reported -$0.09 vs. -$0.64 estimate) but revenue fell 46.6% year‑over‑year to $28.24 million and slightly missed sales estimates.
• Company insiders sold about 44,020 shares over the last three months (including CEO and VP sales), while major institutional investors increased positions and the consensus analyst rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a $24.38 average target.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $13.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock, down from their prior price target of $18.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target suggests a potential upside of 7.88% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Xencor in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Xencor in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Xencor from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Xencor presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.38.

Xencor Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:XNCR opened at $12.05 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $12.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.30. The company has a current ratio of 6.25, a quick ratio of 6.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $883.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.72 and a beta of 0.95. Xencor has a 12-month low of $6.92 and a 12-month high of $18.69.

Xencor (NASDAQ:XNCR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $28.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.97 million. Xencor had a negative net margin of 73.20% and a negative return on equity of 14.58%. Xencor's revenue was down 46.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Xencor will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John R. Desjarlais sold 2,502 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total transaction of $27,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 263,831 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,907,417.62. The trade was a 0.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bassil I. Dahiyat sold 6,606 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $72,798.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 546,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,020,402.32. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,020 shares of company stock worth $499,817. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xencor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in Xencor by 1.4% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 10,675,022 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $125,218,000 after acquiring an additional 147,700 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Xencor by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,165,450 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $109,703,000 after acquiring an additional 61,692 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL grew its holdings in Xencor by 160.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP increased its position in shares of Xencor by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 6,777,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $103,763,000 after purchasing an additional 556,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position 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 valued at $69,006,000 after purchasing an additional 833,423 shares during the last quarter.

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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