Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter valued at about $4,396,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 134.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $573,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 48.2% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 232,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,021,000 after buying an additional 75,489 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at about $994,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 303,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,216,403.80. This represents a 14.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $1,059,407.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 779,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXEL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.59.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $37.06 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.71. The company has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.14 and a 52-week high of $40.02.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. On average, analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.