Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 13.53% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.76.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL opened at $46.26 on Wednesday. Exelixis has a 1-year low of $20.14 and a 1-year high of $48.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.06 and a 200 day moving average of $35.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.25.

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 net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $1,059,407.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 779,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $1,946,479.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 303,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,216,403.80. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,641 shares of company stock valued at $4,810,161 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Exelixis by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $272,056,000 after purchasing an additional 67,470 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Exelixis by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,795,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $287,794,000 after purchasing an additional 164,134 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Exelixis by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,572,189 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Exelixis by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,101,000 after purchasing an additional 810,857 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% 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.