Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on EXEL. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $36.85 on Wednesday. Exelixis has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $37.59. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.23. The company has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Exelixis by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,890 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,050 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Exelixis by 5.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in Exelixis by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 58,159 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.