Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Price Target Raised to $40.00

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

EXEL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Brookline Capital Management initiated coverage on shares of Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America cut shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.59.

Exelixis Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $36.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.48. Exelixis has a twelve month low of $20.14 and a twelve month high of $40.02.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. On average, analysts expect that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 303,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,216,403.80. This represents a 14.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,195,000 after purchasing an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,396,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Exelixis by 134.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $573,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Exelixis by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 232,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,021,000 after acquiring an additional 75,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.