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

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 4,063 put options on the company. This is an increase of 2,362% compared to the typical daily volume of 165 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $56.00.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.8 %

XENE traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.48. 241,548 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,904. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.00 and a beta of 1.19. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $50.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.65 and a 200 day moving average of $40.49.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.82) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.73) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Xenon Pharmaceuticals will post -3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sherry Aulin sold 18,709 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $770,997.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gary Patou sold 4,891 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.08, for a total transaction of $200,922.28. Following the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.52% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 144.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,552,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $100,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,507,135 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 1,263.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 976,783 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $38,456,000 after buying an additional 905,129 shares during the last quarter. Logos Global Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $14,621,000. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 825,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $32,480,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC raised its stake in Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 61.5% during the 2nd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 639,685 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $24,941,000 after acquiring an additional 243,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

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.