XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) Given “Buy” Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $104.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded XOMA from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st.

XOMA Stock Performance

XOMA opened at $20.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $243.53 million, a P/E ratio of -5.84 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.76 and its 200-day moving average is $26.90. XOMA has a 52-week low of $19.92 and a 52-week high of $35.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 7.52 and a current ratio of 7.52.

XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 17th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by ($0.17). XOMA had a negative net margin of 151.34% and a negative return on equity of 24.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.75 million. Sell-side analysts expect that XOMA will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at XOMA

In related news, CIO Bradley Sitko bought 4,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.89 per share, for a total transaction of $98,761.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 10,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $250,462.76. This represents a 65.10 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bvf Partners L. P/Il sold 500,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total transaction of $13,069,366.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 4,747 shares of company stock valued at $114,544. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of XOMA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in XOMA by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,840,000 after buying an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in XOMA by 300.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,256 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of XOMA by 95.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of XOMA by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 142,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,754 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of XOMA by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,362 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 95.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About XOMA

XOMA Corporation operates as a biotech royalty aggregator in the United States and the Asia Pacific. It has a portfolio of economic rights to future potential milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered commercial and pre-commercial therapeutic candidates. The company also focuses on early to mid-stage clinical assets primarily in Phase 1 and 2 with commercial sales potential that are licensed to partners; and acquires milestone and royalty revenue streams on late-stage clinical or commercial assets.