Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group increased its Exelixis holdings by 7,459% in the second quarter, reaching 437,138 shares valued at approximately $23.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 85.27% of the company.
• Exelixis reported quarterly EPS of $0.91, beating estimates of $0.85, while revenue rose 10.6% year over year to $628.69 million, slightly below expectations.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $50.07, below the stock’s reported opening price of $57.43.

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 7,459.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 437,138 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 431,355 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Exelixis worth $23,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 2nd quarter worth $1,581,991,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 4,875.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,785,373 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $804,472,000 after buying an additional 14,488,217 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 48.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,658,388 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $598,647,000 after buying an additional 4,477,029 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $106,460,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in Exelixis during the second quarter worth about $113,951,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total value of $526,511.92. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EXEL. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Exelixis from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Leerink Partners downgraded Exelixis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $52.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Exelixis from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $50.07.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL opened at $57.43 on Friday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.76 and a 1-year high of $59.72. The stock has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.94.

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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.40 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 42.17% and a net margin of 35.33%.Exelixis's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc NASDAQ: EXEL is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. The company's research and development activities center on targeted therapies designed to address biological pathways involved in tumor growth and progression.

Exelixis' principal product is cabozantinib, marketed in the United States as CABOMETYX tablets for certain patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

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