Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price target increased by Piper Sandler from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on EXEL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, October 11th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.44.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $32.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.15. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $19.20 and a 1 year high of $33.32.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 17.38%. The company had revenue of $637.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $468.21 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $709,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 580,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,475,426.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $709,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 580,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,475,426.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 Dana Aftab sold 95,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 520,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,024,750. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 352,858 shares of company stock valued at $9,349,879 over the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Exelixis by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 27,102,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $608,993,000 after buying an additional 424,000 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,163,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $340,714,000 after acquiring an additional 61,350 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 107.7% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,763,728 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $129,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,021 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 7.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,137,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $115,434,000 after acquiring an additional 349,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,281,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,425,000 after acquiring an additional 370,199 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.