Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Given "Buy" Rating at Guggenheim

Key Points

• Exelixis has received a "Buy" rating from Guggenheim with a price target of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.47%.
• Despite a strong quarterly earnings report, Exelixis shares have declined 15.9%, reaching a trading price of $37.35.
• A total of thirteen analysts rate Exelixis as "Buy," indicating positive sentiment, while the average consensus target price is $45.50.

Guggenheim reiterated their buy rating on shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $45.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on EXEL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 target price on Exelixis and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Exelixis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group set a $43.00 price target on Exelixis and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Exelixis from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Stephens upgraded Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.44.

Exelixis Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of EXEL traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.26. 5,660,958 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,091,694. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $23.21 and a 1 year high of $49.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.28. The business's 50-day moving average price is $43.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.89.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. Exelixis had a return on equity of 27.47% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $568.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $574.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, CMO Amy C. Peterson sold 72,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.47, for a total transaction of $3,309,124.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 465,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,161,419.71. This represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 7,535 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $324,683.15. Following the sale, the director directly owned 358,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,464,225.38. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 456,605 shares of company stock valued at $20,966,005 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Exelixis by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $272,056,000 after buying an additional 67,470 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Exelixis by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,795,074 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $287,794,000 after buying an additional 164,134 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 73.8% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,893,889 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $250,869,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,884 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 40.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,572,189 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $205,725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the first quarter valued at $123,310,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelixis Company Profile

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.