Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,539,863 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 328,754 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $84,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Exelixis by 308.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,867,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Exelixis by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,159,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $105,208,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,482 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Exelixis by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,884,000 after acquiring an additional 704,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Exelixis by 1,637.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 746,286 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,851,000 after acquiring an additional 703,343 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $331,430.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 356,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,479,669. This represents a 2.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This trade represents a 28.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EXEL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $35.59 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.42. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.14 and a 52 week high of $40.02. The company has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. Analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

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.