HC Wainwright Reiterates “Buy” Rating for XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA)

XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $104.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 393.83% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered XOMA from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

XOMA Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of XOMA stock opened at $21.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $248.15 million, a P/E ratio of -6.05 and a beta of 1.00. XOMA has a one year low of $19.92 and a one year high of $35.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 7.52 and a quick ratio of 7.52.

XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) last issued 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 return on equity of 24.95% and a negative net margin of 151.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.75 million. Analysts predict that XOMA will post -1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bvf Partners L. P/Il sold 500,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.10, for a total value of $13,069,366.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of XOMA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in XOMA. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of XOMA by 95.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,632 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased 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 valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of XOMA by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in XOMA by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,796 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in XOMA in the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. 95.92% of the stock is currently 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.