Fmr LLC Has $98.16 Million Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,947,599 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 485,527 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned 1.03% of Exelixis worth $98,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Exelixis by 62.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 967 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 68.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $388,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 341,028 shares in the company, valued at $13,231,886.40. This represents a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,768 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $331,430.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 356,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,479,669. The trade was a 2.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 over the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $35.59. 1,950,240 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,174,477. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $36.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.42.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXEL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Brookline Capital Management began coverage on Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.59.

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.