Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 20,077 Shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:XENE) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 687,145 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 20,077 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.90% of Xenon Pharmaceuticals worth $26,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 140.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,422 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,742 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ian Mortimer sold 22,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total value of $903,213.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 31,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,258,340.40. This trade represents a 41.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on XENE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, February 28th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Xenon Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $57.38.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.9 %

Xenon Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $34.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.76. Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.11 and a 1-year high of $46.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.22 and a beta of 1.26.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.84) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.05. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -3.1 EPS for the current year.

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.