Erste Asset Management GmbH Buys Shares of 74,500 Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 74,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Exelixis by 10.0% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the first quarter worth approximately $327,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Exelixis by 107.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Exelixis by 27.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,988 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 4,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis during the second quarter valued at approximately $489,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 96,986 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $3,394,510.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,075. This trade represents a 16.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 339,736 shares of company stock worth $11,508,610. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $35.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.00 and a 200 day moving average of $26.25. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.20 and a 52 week high of $36.97.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Exelixis from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.44.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc, an oncology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers in the United States. The company offers CABOMETYX tablets for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy; and COMETRIQ capsules for the treatment of progressive and metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.