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

XOMA Co. (NASDAQ:XOMA) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 173,300 shares, a decline of 23.5% from the October 15th total of 226,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 22,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded XOMA from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $117.00 target price on shares of XOMA in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Insider Activity at XOMA

In other XOMA news, CEO Owen Hughes sold 21,881 shares of XOMA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.95, for a total value of $655,335.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,979 shares in the company, valued at $1,047,621.05. The trade was a 38.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of XOMA

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of XOMA by 95.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new position in XOMA during the first quarter worth about $212,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in XOMA by 16.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 9,695 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of XOMA in the 3rd quarter valued at $516,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.92% of the company’s stock.

XOMA Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XOMA opened at $29.88 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $14.33 and a 1 year high of $33.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $351.99 million, a P/E ratio of -8.59 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.86.

XOMA (NASDAQ:XOMA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by ($0.02). XOMA had a negative return on equity of 24.95% and a negative net margin of 151.34%. The firm had revenue of $11.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.37 million. Equities analysts forecast that XOMA will post -0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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.