Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,090,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the January 15th total of 14,460,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.0 days. Approximately 4.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.27, for a total transaction of $352,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 278,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,828,514.55. The trade was a 3.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Exelixis by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $979,994,000 after purchasing an additional 121,750 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $272,056,000 after acquiring an additional 67,470 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,110,000 after acquiring an additional 708,312 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $132,101,000 after acquiring an additional 810,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ EXEL traded up $0.51 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.00. 2,854,977 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,601,778. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.93. The firm has a market cap of $10.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $20.14 and a fifty-two week high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. Analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EXEL shares. Oppenheimer lowered Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.24.

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.