Exelixis’ (EXEL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Guggenheim in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Guggenheim’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.60% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets cut Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.50.

Exelixis Stock Up 7.0 %

Shares of EXEL stock traded up $2.31 on Wednesday, reaching $35.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 822,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,427,834. The company has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $37.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.71.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. Research analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 41,588 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total transaction of $1,428,963.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 288,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,918,529.40. The trade was a 12.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,588 shares of company stock worth $3,981,864 in the last 90 days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 50.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Exelixis by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 34,643 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 14,655 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $522,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 24.9% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 25,207 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 5,023 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.