XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of XOMA in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of XOMA in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock.

XOMA Price Performance

NASDAQ:XOMA traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.00. 7,667 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,190. XOMA has a 12-month low of $18.35 and a 12-month high of $35.00. The company has a quick ratio of 7.52, a current ratio of 7.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $23.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.98. The company has a market cap of $287.21 million, a PE ratio of -6.90 and a beta of 0.89.

XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $15.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.75 million. XOMA had a negative return on equity of 24.95% and a negative net margin of 151.34%. On average, analysts expect that XOMA will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at XOMA

In other XOMA news, CEO Owen Hughes sold 25,637 shares of XOMA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total transaction of $650,667.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,701 shares in the company, valued at $1,591,351.38. This trade represents a 29.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bvf Partners L. P/Il sold 392,723 shares of XOMA stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.10, for a total transaction of $10,642,793.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,267,545 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,350,469.50. This trade represents a 23.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired 29,312 shares of company stock worth $735,061 over the last three months. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XOMA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of XOMA. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in XOMA by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 14,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in XOMA by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,362 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Eversept Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of XOMA by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 95,417 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of XOMA by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,300 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of XOMA by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,113 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.92% of the company's stock.

About XOMA

XOMA Corporation operates as a biotech royalty aggregator in the United States and the Asia Pacific. It has a portfolio of economic rights to future potential milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered commercial and pre-commercial therapeutic candidates. The company also focuses on early to mid-stage clinical assets primarily in Phase 1 and 2 with commercial sales potential that are licensed to partners; and acquires milestone and royalty revenue streams on late-stage clinical or commercial assets.