Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 18,198 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $4,396,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Exelixis by 134.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $994,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,462,072 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,891,000 after purchasing an additional 140,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after purchasing an additional 704,786 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelixis Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $36.70 on Monday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $40.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 owns 779,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 303,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,216,403.80. The trade was a 14.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 in the last 90 days. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EXEL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.59.

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.