Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

EXEL has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Exelixis in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $43.00 price objective on Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.45.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $42.17 on Friday. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $31.90 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.84.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.10. Exelixis had a return on equity of 31.06% and a net margin of 29.63%.The firm had revenue of $597.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 28,043 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.58, for a total value of $1,194,070.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 374,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,926,154.82. The trade was a 6.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 48,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.50, for a total transaction of $2,056,277.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 664,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,253,065. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 245,235 shares of company stock valued at $10,490,600 over the last ninety days. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Exelixis by 1.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,292 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 102,581 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,521,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,342 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 95.1% during the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 599 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cim LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.9% in the third quarter. Cim LLC now owns 35,397 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Company 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.