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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 4,063 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,362% compared to the average daily volume of 165 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on XENE. William Blair upgraded shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $57.45.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of XENE stock opened at $43.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 1.25. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $33.62 and a fifty-two week high of $50.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.22.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.73) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Xenon Pharmaceuticals news, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 335,635 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,449,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 87.8% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,032 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 31.7% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,717 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 3,301 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $418,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 56,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,431,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

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.