Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL Stock Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Exelixis stake by 69.2% in the third quarter, selling 296,759 shares and retaining 131,914 shares valued at approximately $7.7 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 85.27% of EXEL.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Exelixis has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $51.50, despite some firms raising targets as high as $65.
• Exelixis shares opened at $64.39, near their 12-month high of $64.42. The company’s latest quarterly results exceeded EPS expectations, with $0.91 reported versus $0.85 expected, while revenue increased 10.6% year over year.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 69.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 131,914 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 296,759 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of Exelixis worth $7,705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the second quarter worth about $1,581,991,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,597 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $184,391,000 after purchasing an additional 39,920 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Exelixis by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,388,920 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $145,351,000 after buying an additional 58,149 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Exelixis by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,534,992 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $108,726,000 after buying an additional 970,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,149,397 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $116,949,000 after buying an additional 504,660 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXEL has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Exelixis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Exelixis from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.50.

Exelixis Trading Up 2.7%

Exelixis stock opened at $64.39 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.24. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.63 and a 12-month high of $64.42. The stock has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.47.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.06. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.33% and a return on equity of 42.17%. The business had revenue of $628.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of Exelixis 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 owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at $862,799.14. The trade was a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 currently owned by company insiders.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. The company's research programs center primarily on targeted therapies, including treatments designed to inhibit signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and progression.

Exelixis' lead product is CABOMETYX (cabozantinib), an oral medicine approved in the United States for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer.

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