Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Bumped Up to Strong-Buy by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Exelixis to “strong buy” from “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with an average price target of $51.50.
• Exelixis shares opened at $64.53, near their 52-week high of $65.50, and have risen above both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.91, beating estimates of $0.85, while revenue increased 10.6% year over year to $628.69 million, slightly below expectations.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at 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 research reports. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. UBS Group set a $55.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, September 11th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.50.

Exelixis Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of EXEL opened at $64.53 on Friday. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $36.00 and a 1 year high of $65.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.61. The stock 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.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $628.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $636.40 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 42.17% and a net margin of 35.33%. The company's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total transaction of $526,511.92. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Private Client Services LLC lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 28,539 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Exelixis by 0.5% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 59,420 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,549,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,077 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Exelixis by 124.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 757 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.