Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $42.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America cut shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.24.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL stock opened at $35.00 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.83. The company has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $20.14 and a 52-week high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 directly owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.27, for a total transaction of $352,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 278,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,828,514.55. This trade represents a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,588 shares of company stock worth $3,981,864. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Exelixis by 308.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth about $94,867,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Exelixis by 330.4% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,484,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $82,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907,167 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Exelixis by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,159,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,208,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,482 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 124.0% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,473,000 after purchasing an additional 991,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.