Exelixis’ (EXEL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on EXEL. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Brookline Capital Management initiated coverage on Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Bank of America cut Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Exelixis from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

Exelixis Trading Up 3.8 %

EXEL stock opened at $34.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.64. The stock has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $20.01 and a 1 year high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. Exelixis’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total value of $36,486.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,666,873. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of Exelixis 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 580,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,475,426.75. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,890 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Exelixis by 5.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Exelixis by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Exelixis by 0.8% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 71,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,611,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Exelixis by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.