Wells Fargo & Company MN Acquires 703,343 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 1,637.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 746,286 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 703,343 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.26% of Exelixis worth $24,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,913,000. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,118,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,358,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth $223,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP grew its position in Exelixis by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 595,146 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $19,818,000 after purchasing an additional 167,907 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at $28,174,996.98. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This trade represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234 in the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL traded up $0.80 on Tuesday, reaching $36.54. 2,242,333 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,175,885. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.09. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.14 and a 52 week high of $40.02. The firm has a market cap of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Exelixis from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Exelixis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.