Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 1,649 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC reduced its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 57.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,210 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,649 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $40,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seizert Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Exelixis by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,195,000 after acquiring an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,396,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $577,000. 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 worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $573,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $1,059,407.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 779,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,060,561.28. This represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Exelixis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $39.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.21.

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

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.