Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Citigroup from $38.00 to $45.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 30.47% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $34.49 on Wednesday. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $20.14 and a 1 year high of $37.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.75.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. Equities research analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 value of $352,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 278,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,828,514.55. The trade was a 3.46 % 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 hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of Exelixis 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 111,588 shares of company stock worth $3,981,864 in the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.