XenoPort, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNPT) saw its stock price surge by more than 7% in pre-market trading today, owing to the success of its XP23829 treatment in s mid-stage psoriasis study. However, the momentum couldn’t last, as the stock has crumbled by more than 25% in early-afternoon trading. DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT) on the other hand also posted gains in pre-market trading today, of 3.09%, and continued that momentum into the regular trading session, with its stock price having risen by more than 7% by noon. The driving force behind this action was Morgan Stanley initiating coverage on the company with an ‘Overweight’ rating and a price target of $59, which provides an upside of 47.5% to the current trading levels.
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Psoriasis is an autoimmune skin disease characterized by long lasting lesions. XenoPort, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNPT)’s Chief Medical Officer Richard Kim expanded on the significance of the company’s XP23829 treatment, a monomethyl fumarate prodrug that could have remedial effects on the lesions as opposed to dimethyl fumarate, which is currently being prescribed for the ailment. XP23829 managed to meet endpoints for both a once-a-day 800 milligram dose, and a twice-a-day 400 milligram dose. According to XenoPort, Inc., XP23829 is also generally safe and well tolerated. Before the start of trading today, XenoPort’s stock had depreciated by more than 23% on a year-to-date basis.
Professional money managers were generally bearish towards the company during the second quarter, as just 16 funds in our database had an aggregate investment of $106.80 million in the company compared to 20 funds with $115.91 million in it on March 31. However, the funds did hold 27.8% of the company’s outstanding shares. Julian Baker and Felix Baker‘s Baker Bros. Advisors and Samuel Isaly‘s Orbimed Advisors are the two largest stockholders of XenoPort, Inc. (NASDAQ:XNPT) within our database, with respective holdings of 6.51 million shares valued at $39.90 million and 5.77 million shares valued at $35.36 million.
The $1.73 billion clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT) is focused on developing and commercializing treatments for severe allergies. Its core platform, Viaskin is an electrostatic patch offering non-invasive immunotherapy to patients. The company has three products in its pipeline, which are currently in the Phase III developmental stage; namely Viaskin Peanut, Viaskin Milk, and Viaskin Egg. Since its IPO in October of last year, DBV Technologies’ stock has appreciated by more than 75%. Morgan Stanley’s upgrade gives further validation to investors that the company’s business model and progress are on track to materializing into something substantial in the future.
Hedge funds were fairly bullish towards DBV Technologies SA – ADR (NASDAQ:DBVT) during the second quarter. Among the funds that we track, a total of 12 firms had an aggregate investment of $149 million in the company at the end of June compared to nine hedge funds with $106.49 million in shares at the end of March. The smart money we track held 13.1% of the company’s shares. Baker Bros. Advisors is the largest stockholder of DBV Technologies within our database, holding 2.56 million shares valued at $76.37 million. It is followed by Israel Englander‘s Millennium Management and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management, with respective holdings of 592,200 shares valued at $17.64 million and 444,400 shares valued at $13.23 million.
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