Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Makes New $551,000 Investment in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Key Points

• Avantax Advisory Services Inc. has made a new investment of $551,000 in Exelixis, Inc., acquiring 14,916 shares.
• Several major stakeholders, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Wells Fargo & Company, have significantly increased their positions in Exelixis in the first quarter.
• Exelixis reported a net margin of 27.01% with revenues of $568.26 million for the quarter, although this marked a 10.8% decline compared to the previous year.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,916 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,457 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,046,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Exelixis by 1,637.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 746,286 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 703,343 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 10.6% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Exelixis by 23.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,073 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $9,159,000 after purchasing an additional 47,845 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Stelios Papadopoulos sold 36,508 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.35, for a total value of $1,619,129.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,279,416 shares in the company, valued at $56,742,099.60. The trade was a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Amy C. Peterson sold 72,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.47, for a total value of $3,309,124.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 465,393 shares in the company, valued at $21,161,419.71. This represents a 13.52% 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 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.85% of the company's stock.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL opened at $37.46 on Wednesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.21 and a 12 month high of $49.62. The stock's 50-day moving average is $42.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.92. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.29.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on EXEL. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Exelixis from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.44.

Exelixis 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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