Exelixis Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 5,714 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 114% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,675 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 1st quarter valued at $123,310,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Exelixis by 73.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,893,889 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $250,869,000 after buying an additional 2,926,884 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Exelixis during the 2nd quarter valued at $122,099,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Exelixis by 120.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 3,047,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,306,000 after buying an additional 1,665,110 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Exelixis by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,572,189 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $205,725,000 after buying an additional 1,596,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL stock opened at $36.13 on Wednesday. Exelixis has a 52 week low of $27.86 and a 52 week high of $49.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $38.73 and its 200 day moving average is $40.02. The firm has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.38.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. Exelixis had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 27.47%. The company had revenue of $568.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Exelixis has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EXEL. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 price target on shares of Exelixis and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.53.

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.