Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Put Options (NASDAQ:XENE)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,063 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,362% compared to the average volume of 165 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 442,732 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $14,854,000 after acquiring an additional 32,486 shares in the last quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 183,808 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,281 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 27.1% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 367,233 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $12,321,000 after acquiring an additional 78,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,914,749 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $64,240,000 after acquiring an additional 51,276 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XENE traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $30.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,042,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 544,488. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $26.74 and a fifty-two week high of $46.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $33.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.66 and a beta of 1.21.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.83) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.90) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.62) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc, a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics to treat patients with neurological disorders in Canada. Its clinical development pipeline includes XEN1101, a novel and potent Kv7 potassium channel opener, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders.