Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Price Target Cut to $57.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on EXEL. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Exelixis from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Exelixis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Exelixis from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.62.

Exelixis Price Performance

EXEL traded down $0.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.00. 1,521,799 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,887,171. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $39.71 and a 1 year high of $73.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.23.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.45% and a return on equity of 45.54%. The business had revenue of $658.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $646.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,581,991,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the second quarter valued at about $113,951,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the second quarter valued at about $107,803,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the second quarter worth about $67,299,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 62.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,534,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $108,726,000 after buying an additional 970,144 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for cancer. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the company has built its business around oncology treatments and continues to advance a pipeline of potential cancer therapies. Its principal marketed medicine is cabozantinib, sold in the United States as Cabometyx and Cometriq. Cabometyx is used to treat certain patients with advanced kidney, liver and thyroid cancers, while Cometriq is used for medullary thyroid cancer.