Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Cuts Stock Holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 80.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,913 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 889,445 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.08% of Exelixis worth $7,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 50.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Monday, reaching $36.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,864,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,814,592. The company has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.01 and a twelve month high of $37.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.39.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on EXEL shares. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 41,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total value of $1,428,963.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 288,665 shares in the company, valued at $9,918,529.40. This represents a 12.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 169,020 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,746,680. This represents a 15.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.