Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 67,256 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 80.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 151,153 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,256 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $5,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EXEL. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,558,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 1,637.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 746,286 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,851,000 after acquiring an additional 703,343 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at $1,913,000. Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth $1,118,000. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,358,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $1,059,407.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at $28,174,996.98. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 303,310 shares in the company, valued at $11,216,403.80. This represents a 14.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EXEL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Brookline Capital Management began coverage on shares of Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of Exelixis stock opened at $34.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.65. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.14 and a 1-year high of $40.02.

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

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.