Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Price Up 6.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)’s share price was up 6.7% during trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $38.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Exelixis traded as high as $35.37 and last traded at $35.01. Approximately 649,341 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 2,427,834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.81.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on EXEL. UBS Group increased their target price on Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Brookline Capital Management assumed coverage on Exelixis in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Bank of America lowered Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.27, for a total value of $352,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 278,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,828,514.55. This represents a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,588 shares of company stock worth $3,981,864. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $713,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,103,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,867,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 49,256 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 8,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $606,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelixis Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.71.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. Equities analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current 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.