Guggenheim Issues Positive Forecast for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Price

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price target upped by Guggenheim from $33.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on EXEL. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Brookline Capital Management initiated coverage on Exelixis in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Exelixis Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $34.21 on Tuesday. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $19.20 and a 12-month high of $36.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.63.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 169,020 shares in the company, valued at $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Exelixis by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,473,000 after buying an additional 991,494 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the 3rd quarter valued at $14,979,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 27,102,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $608,993,000 after purchasing an additional 424,000 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,281,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,425,000 after purchasing an additional 370,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Exelixis by 263.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 483,064 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,536,000 after purchasing an additional 350,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.