Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Earns “Buy” Rating from Guggenheim

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Guggenheim in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

EXEL has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Exelixis from $34.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stephens boosted their target price on Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America downgraded Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

Exelixis Trading Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $34.13 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $34.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a 1-year low of $20.01 and a 1-year high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total transaction of $36,486.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,666,873. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total value of $709,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 580,325 shares in the company, valued at $16,475,426.75. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Exelixis by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 32,777 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,091,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth $305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Exelixis by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 505,289 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $16,826,000 after buying an additional 22,225 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Exelixis by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 3,332 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Exelixis by 134.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 8,208 shares during the period. 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.