Peter Kolchinsky, Ra Capital Management Open Position in Xencor Inc (XNCR)

Peter Kolchinsky and Ra Capital Management are betting big on Xencor Inc (NASDAQ:XNCR). In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ra Capital has revealed opening a new position by acquiring 2.7 million shares of Xencor. Ra’s stake accounts for 8.7% of the company’s common stock.

According to our database, Ra Capital Management is the first among the hedge funds we track to open a position in Xencor Inc (NASDAQ:XNCR). A bio-pharmaceutical company, Xencor engages in the research of antibodies that fight life-threatening diseases. The company went public on December 3rd, 2013. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) was priced at $5.50 with 12.7 million shares being offered. The underwriters of the IPO had the option to buy up to 1,909,500 additional shares. As a result, Xencor raised approximately $72 million with the stock advancing 52% during its first day of trading. At the time of writing, shares are traded at a price of $9.34, which gives the company a market cap of $274 million.

Peter Kolchinsky and Ra Capital Management focus on companies with promising drugs and technologies and have been particularly bullish on certain pharmaceutical stocks lately: Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) and Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX). Ra Capital has increased it’s holding of Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX) to 26 million shares from 6 million shares reported in its latest 13F report. The stock has fallen 44% so far in 2013 to a current price of $1.63 per share, which is very close to the all time low of $0.15. Dynavax has a market cap of $430 million and a beta of 2.75, which makes it a very volatile stock. Kolchinsky has also increased his fund’s stake in Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) to 23.4 million shares. The stock has a market cap of $295 million and does not pay a dividend. Shares are traded at a price of $3.06 after falling 63% in 2013.

Disclosure: none

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