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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Exelixis from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. They set an equal weight rating and a $23.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Exelixis from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $26.13.

Exelixis Price Performance

Exelixis stock opened at $22.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.54. Exelixis has a 1-year low of $18.64 and a 1-year high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $425.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $461.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In related news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 349,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,688,978. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director David Edward Johnson purchased 225,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.76 per share, for a total transaction of $4,671,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,525,730 shares in the company, valued at $31,674,154.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,287 shares of Exelixis 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 349,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,688,978. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,896 shares of company stock valued at $660,677. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 232.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.