Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 4,063 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,362% compared to the typical volume of 165 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XENE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $56.00.

Insider Activity

In other Xenon Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Sherry Aulin sold 18,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $770,997.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $200,922.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $968,378.84. The trade was a 17.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XENE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1,263.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 976,783 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,456,000 after acquiring an additional 905,129 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1,275.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,993 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 13,903 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $327,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 68.8% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 24,557 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $967,000 after buying an additional 10,007 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,843,447 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $151,317,000 after buying an additional 15,226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

XENE stock opened at $39.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of -14.02 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.65. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $50.99.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.73) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Xenon Pharmaceuticals

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.