Smith Group Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 9,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Exelixis by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Exelixis from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.06.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $32.96 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.77 and its 200 day moving average is $29.99. The firm has a market cap of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.01 and a 52-week high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 169,020 shares in the company, valued at $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.13, for a total value of $1,706,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 530,325 shares in the company, valued at $18,099,992.25. This trade represents a 8.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 288,574 shares of company stock valued at $10,102,874. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis 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.