Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stake Reduced by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 411,812 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 27,410 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.14% of Exelixis worth $13,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EXEL. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,890 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. 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. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,563 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Exelixis by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,231 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Exelixis by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXEL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Exelixis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Exelixis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

EXEL stock traded up $1.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.85. 3,490,732 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,627,187. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.23. Exelixis, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.14 and a fifty-two week high of $37.59. The company has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,060,561.28. This represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 486,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Exelixis 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.