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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,063 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,362% compared to the average daily volume of 165 put options.

Institutional Trading of Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $930,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 78.3% in the fourth quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 1,100,748 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,700,000 after buying an additional 483,248 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 647.8% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $940,000 after buying an additional 20,891 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,475,859 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $106,586,000 after buying an additional 20,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 347,351 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,953,000 after buying an additional 109,856 shares during the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on XENE shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright assumed coverage on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.20.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1 %

Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $40.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.07 and a beta of 1.25. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $27.99 and a twelve month high of $50.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.31.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.75) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.70) by ($0.05). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.72) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.16 earnings per share 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.