Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $61.66 and last traded at $60.9990, with a volume of 463,577 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $59.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on EXEL. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Exelixis from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group set a $55.00 target price on Exelixis in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelixis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.79.

Exelixis Stock Down 0.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $14.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.53.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.33% and a return on equity of 42.17%. The company had revenue of $628.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Exelixis’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total value of $526,511.92. Following the sale, the director owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This trade represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Exelixis during the second quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the second quarter worth $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer. The company’s research and development activities are centered primarily on targeted therapies and other treatments for solid tumors.

Exelixis’ principal product is cabozantinib, marketed in the United States as CABOMETYX tablets for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer. The company also markets COMETRIQ, a cabozantinib formulation approved in the United States for progressive or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

Exelixis was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.