Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after JMP Securities raised their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $50.00. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Exelixis traded as high as $49.62 and last traded at $43.37, with a volume of 9358364 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.37.

EXEL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $47.00 price objective (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim set a $45.00 target price on Exelixis and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total transaction of $58,812.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 693,181 shares in the company, valued at $27,034,059. This represents a 0.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.68, for a total transaction of $426,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 491,164 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,962,879.52. The trade was a 2.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 458,113 shares of company stock valued at $21,024,817. 2.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $979,994,000 after buying an additional 121,750 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $272,056,000 after acquiring an additional 67,470 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 164,134 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Exelixis by 73.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,893,889 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $250,869,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in 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. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Exelixis Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.28. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $40.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.11.

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.

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