Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Trading Up 5.5% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) traded up 5.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $37.05 and last traded at $37.02. 2,073,819 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 2,581,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Trading Up 5.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.28.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. As a group, analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Exelixis by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $979,994,000 after purchasing an additional 121,750 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $272,056,000 after buying an additional 67,470 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,110,000 after buying an additional 708,312 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after buying an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,101,000 after buying an additional 810,857 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.