Investors Buy High Volume of Put Options on Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 4,063 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,362% compared to the average daily volume of 165 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $968,378.84. This represents a 17.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1,275.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,993 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 13,903 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $327,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 68.8% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 24,557 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 10,007 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $151,317,000 after buying an additional 15,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 31.0% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 273,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,776,000 after buying an additional 64,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

XENE stock opened at $42.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.24 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.41. 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) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XENE. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, William Blair raised Xenon Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $56.90.

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.