Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 665,742 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 306,948 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $17,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 3.6% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,746 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 1.1% in the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 50,497 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 71,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,611,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 12.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,138 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 10.0% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $35.05 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.06. The company has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.51. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.20 and a 12-month high of $36.60.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Exelixis from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.44.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.79, for a total value of $515,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 630,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,256,081.75. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 96,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $3,394,510.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,075. This represents a 16.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 248,148 shares of company stock valued at $8,042,547. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

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.