Exelixis’ (EXEL) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $40.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on EXEL. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $36.70 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.27. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $40.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $1,059,407.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at $28,174,996.98. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 30,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 over the last 90 days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,890 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Exelixis by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,050 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 58,159 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.