Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.00.

EXEL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Brookline Capital Management began coverage on Exelixis in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America lowered shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. This trade represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total transaction of $36,486.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares in the company, valued at $15,666,873. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110 over the last three months. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Exelixis by 11.1% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 142,207 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after purchasing an additional 14,174 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the second quarter valued at about $2,347,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,625,000 after buying an additional 15,368 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 107.7% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,763,728 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,511,000 after buying an additional 2,989,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 89,717.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 41,316 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 41,270 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $34.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.84 and its 200 day moving average is $28.71. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $20.01 and a fifty-two week high of $36.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.52.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The company had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

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.