Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays downgraded Exelixis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TheStreet raised Exelixis from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.13.

Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $22.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.23. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $18.64 and a 52-week high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.16). Exelixis had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The company had revenue of $425.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In related news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total value of $182,314.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 349,499 shares in the company, valued at $7,688,978. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total value of $182,314.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 349,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,688,978. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 10,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.37, for a total transaction of $233,424.51. Following the transaction, the director now owns 338,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,243,318.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,896 shares of company stock valued at $660,677. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXEL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at $73,449,000. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Exelixis by 1,651.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,774,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $65,844,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,278 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exelixis by 948.3% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,454,277 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,240,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,150 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 148.2% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,267,894 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the first quarter worth approximately $22,455,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently 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.