XOMA Co. (NASDAQ:XOMA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

XOMA Co. (NASDAQ:XOMA) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 139,000 shares, a growth of 23.4% from the November 30th total of 112,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 29,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

XOMA Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:XOMA opened at $26.30 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.82. The stock has a market cap of $309.89 million, a P/E ratio of -7.56 and a beta of 0.88. XOMA has a 1 year low of $18.24 and a 1 year 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other XOMA news, CEO Owen Hughes sold 21,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.95, for a total transaction of $655,335.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,047,621.05. This trade represents a 38.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of XOMA

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XOMA. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in XOMA by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of XOMA by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 142,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,783,000 after acquiring an additional 1,754 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of XOMA by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 62,656 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in XOMA in the 3rd quarter valued at $516,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in XOMA by 300.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,256 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut XOMA from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $123.00 price target on shares of XOMA in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

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.