Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Thursday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $46.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Xenon Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $29.94 and last traded at $30.00, with a volume of 1408826 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.15.

XENE has been the subject of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, September 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dawn Svoronos sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.70, for a total transaction of $967,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $967,500. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 560,546 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,148,000 after buying an additional 11,205 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 20.6% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,882 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $312,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,521 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. 95.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 6.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.05 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.06 and its 200-day moving average is $37.82.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.57) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -2.89 EPS for the current year.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing therapeutics to treat patients with neurological disorders in Canada. Its clinical development pipeline includes XEN496, a Kv7 potassium channel opener that is Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of KCNQ2 developmental and epileptic encephalopathy; and XEN1101, a Kv7 potassium channel opener, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders.