Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy”

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Exelixis from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.45.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $44.36 on Friday. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $31.90 and a 1 year high of $49.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.40.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $597.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.04 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 29.63% and a return on equity of 31.06%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, Director Stelios Papadopoulos sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.55, for a total transaction of $4,355,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,189,228 shares in the company, valued at $51,790,879.40. This represents a 7.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 24,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.93, for a total transaction of $1,032,400.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,463.40. The trade was a 53.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 245,235 shares of company stock worth $10,490,600. 2.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Exelixis by 21.6% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,501,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $805,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,466,000 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 20.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,181,359 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $379,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575,280 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 2.2% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,795,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $287,794,000 after acquiring an additional 164,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,445,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $328,196,000 after acquiring an additional 28,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 7.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,960,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $246,170,000 after acquiring an additional 394,897 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelixis Company 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.