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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 4,063 put options on the company. This is an increase of 2,362% compared to the typical volume of 165 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on XENE shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set 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 objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xenon Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Insider Activity at Xenon Pharmaceuticals

In other Xenon Pharmaceuticals news, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $200,922.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sherry Aulin sold 18,709 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $770,997.89. 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

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XENE. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,917,684 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $272,349,000 after purchasing an additional 149,511 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 4,419,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $172,315,000 after purchasing an additional 97,732 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,843,447 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $151,317,000 after purchasing an additional 15,226 shares during the period. Braidwell LP lifted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 2,707,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $106,585,000 after buying an additional 146,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 144.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,552,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $100,506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:XENE opened at $39.19 on Thursday. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $50.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.80. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of -13.90 and a beta of 1.20.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.13 EPS 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.