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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 4,063 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,362% compared to the average daily volume of 165 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,378.84. The trade was a 17.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 174.7% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,740 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 207.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $327,000. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ XENE opened at $42.97 on Thursday. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $50.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.24 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.93 and a 200-day moving average of $40.41.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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.