Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Leerink Partners Analyst Says

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price objective boosted by Leerink Partners from $55.00 to $58.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Leerink Partners‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 16.63% from the stock’s current price.

EXEL has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Exelixis from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Exelixis from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Exelixis from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Exelixis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of Exelixis stock traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $69.57. 2,003,585 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,563,320. The stock has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.57. Exelixis has a 12 month low of $39.71 and a 12 month high of $73.69.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.45% and a return on equity of 45.54%. The business had revenue of $658.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total transaction of $526,511.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Exelixis by 2.0% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,456 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Private Client Services LLC boosted its position in Exelixis by 0.7% during the third quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 28,539 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Exelixis by 44.9% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 784 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Exelixis by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 59,420 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Exelixis by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,864 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. The company’s research programs center primarily on targeted therapies, including treatments designed to inhibit signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and progression.

Exelixis’ lead product is CABOMETYX (cabozantinib), an oral medicine approved in the United States for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer.