Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $40.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $30.00.

A number of other research firms have also commented on EXEL. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America cut Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.06.

Exelixis Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $32.96 on Monday. Exelixis has a 12 month low of $20.01 and a 12 month high of $37.59. The company has a market cap of $9.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.99.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. Exelixis’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.13, for a total transaction of $1,706,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 530,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,099,992.25. This trade represents a 8.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 288,574 shares of company stock worth $10,102,874 over the last three months. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 82.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 704,786 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in Exelixis in the third quarter worth about $14,979,000. Burney Co. bought a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $12,267,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Exelixis by 263.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 483,064 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,536,000 after purchasing an additional 350,026 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.