Amundi Sells 14,170 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Amundi lessened its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 37.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 14,170 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Exelixis by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 967 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Exelixis by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EXEL. Barclays boosted their target price on Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Exelixis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.59.

Exelixis Stock Up 1.9 %

EXEL opened at $37.06 on Thursday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $40.02. The stock has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.53 and a 200-day moving average of $32.71.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 303,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,216,403.80. This trade represents a 14.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis 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.