Blair William & Co. IL Trims Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Exelixis, Inc. by 36.0%, holding 292,671 shares valued at approximately $10.81 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Exelixis reported earnings per share of $0.75 for the last quarter, beating expectations but showing a 10.8% revenue decline year-over-year.
• Analysts have given Exelixis a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $44.44, despite some rating downgrades from previous "strong-buy" statuses.

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 36.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 292,671 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 164,899 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.11% of Exelixis worth $10,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $272,056,000 after purchasing an additional 67,470 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Exelixis by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,940 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $254,110,000 after buying an additional 708,312 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $132,376,000 after buying an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $132,101,000 after acquiring an additional 810,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,947,599 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $98,155,000 after acquiring an additional 485,527 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 34,387 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $1,515,091.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 412,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,155,892.32. This trade represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 7,535 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $324,683.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 358,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,464,225.38. This trade represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 456,605 shares of company stock valued at $20,966,005. Company insiders own 2.82% of the company's stock.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of Exelixis stock traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,654,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,737,353. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $42.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.92. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $25.12 and a one year high of $49.62.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $568.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Exelixis's quarterly revenue was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Exelixis from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Exelixis from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.