Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

EXEL has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.50.

Exelixis Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $64.53 on Friday. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $36.00 and a 52-week high of $65.50. The company has a market cap of $15.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.61.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. Exelixis had a return on equity of 42.17% and a net margin of 35.33%. The business had revenue of $628.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total value of $526,511.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 124.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 757 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Exelixis during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in Exelixis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. The company’s research programs center primarily on targeted therapies, including treatments designed to inhibit signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and progression.

Exelixis’ lead product is CABOMETYX (cabozantinib), an oral medicine approved in the United States for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer.