Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Exelixis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Exelixis to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer lowered Exelixis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.06.

Exelixis Price Performance

EXEL stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $32.60. 2,986,402 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,807,106. The company has a 50-day moving average of $34.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.89. The company has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a twelve month low of $20.01 and a twelve month high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.13, for a total transaction of $1,706,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 530,325 shares in the company, valued at $18,099,992.25. This trade represents a 8.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 169,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 289,736 shares of company stock worth $10,139,360. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Entropy Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 21,731 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 3,431 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,455,000. Paragon Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $1,642,000. Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth about $245,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 9,010 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.