Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $42.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Exelixis traded as high as $37.14 and last traded at $37.04, with a volume of 1317363 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $35.65.

EXEL has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Brookline Capital Management started coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities upped their target price on Exelixis from $34.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.75.

Insider Activity

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $709,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 580,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,475,426.75. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total transaction of $36,486.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,666,873. This represents a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 314,736 shares of company stock valued at $10,849,110 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.85% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,936 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 4,394 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at $437,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth about $2,619,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new position in Exelixis during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,267,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelixis Trading Up 4.5 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.08. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The company's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

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.