Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 8,360,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the November 15th total of 7,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. This trade represents a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,666,873. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 339,736 shares of company stock valued at $11,508,610 in the last ninety days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Exelixis by 5.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 6,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,746 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 50,497 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 71,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,611,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 3.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,853 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on EXEL shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Exelixis from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America cut shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exelixis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.88.

Exelixis Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of EXEL opened at $34.69 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.38. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $19.20 and a 12-month high of $36.97. The firm has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.