Short Interest in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Rises By 5.5%

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,690,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 12,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.2 days. Currently, 4.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 95,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $2,375,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 520,990 shares in the company, valued at $13,024,750. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 95,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $2,375,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 520,990 shares in the company, valued at $13,024,750. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria C. Freire sold 8,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.56, for a total transaction of $219,120.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 91,007 shares in the company, valued at $2,417,145.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 327,858 shares of company stock worth $8,640,129 over the last ninety days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the second quarter worth $652,000. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Exelixis by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 71,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,611,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in Exelixis by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 276,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,210,000 after purchasing an additional 19,559 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Exelixis by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 433,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $9,736,000 after purchasing an additional 166,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its holdings in Exelixis by 137.1% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 20,816 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 12,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXEL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up previously from $32.00) on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelixis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $26.30. 1,297,643 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,024,488. The firm has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.54. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $27.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.51.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.44. Exelixis had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $637.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $468.21 million. On average, analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Exelixis

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.