Investors Purchase High Volume of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Call Options (NASDAQ:XENE)

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 6,053 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 407% compared to the average volume of 1,195 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on XENE. Stifel Nicolaus set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Chardan Capital upgraded Xenon Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $55.50.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $43.05 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.87 and a beta of 0.91. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $26.74 and a 1 year high of $46.99.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.20) by ($0.11). During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.84) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ian Mortimer sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.43, for a total value of $1,777,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,580. The trade was a 86.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 65,205 shares of company stock worth $2,919,762. Company insiders own 4.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 442,732 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,854,000 after acquiring an additional 32,486 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 21,250 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $81,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 73.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 436,020 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,647,000 after buying an additional 184,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $577,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing novel, small‐molecule drugs targeting ion channels in the central and peripheral nervous system. The company’s research focus centers on neurological and pain disorders—including epilepsy, migraine, and neuropathic pain—by modulating key ion‐channel proteins to restore normal neuronal function. Xenon’s scientific platform draws upon advances in ion‐channel biology and structure‐based drug design to identify and optimize therapeutic candidates with the potential for improved safety and efficacy profiles compared with existing treatments.

The company’s pipeline comprises multiple preclinical and clinical programs.