Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $42.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Exelixis traded as high as $37.14 and last traded at $37.04, with a volume of 1317363 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.65.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stephens raised their target price on Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Exelixis from $29.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.75.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $709,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 580,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,475,426.75. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.27, for a total transaction of $352,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 278,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,828,514.55. This trade represents a 3.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,936 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 4,394 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $437,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $2,619,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,267,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelixis Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.08.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.