Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 13,447 Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,447 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Exelixis during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 62.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 buying an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXEL. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Exelixis from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.59.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total value of $388,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 341,028 shares in the company, valued at $13,231,886.40. The trade was a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $1,059,407.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at $28,174,996.98. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 in the last ninety days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exelixis Price Performance

EXEL stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.42. 1,089,636 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,088,242. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.00.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.