Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.06 Billion Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Exelixis, Inc. by 2.6%, now owning approximately 28.67 million shares valued at over $1 billion.
• Exelixis reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.75, exceeding the consensus estimate, but revenue fell by 10.8% year-over-year to $568.26 million.
• Insider sales included a transaction by Director Sue Gail Eckhardt, who sold 18,838 shares valued at over $805,000, reducing her ownership by 46.84%.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,671,987 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 757,265 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.40% of Exelixis worth $1,058,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 200,228 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,668,000 after purchasing an additional 29,892 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,947,599 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $98,155,000 after purchasing an additional 485,527 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 163.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 73,884 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 45,890 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $17,046,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EXEL shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Exelixis from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Benchmark restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Stephens upgraded Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Exelixis from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 34,387 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 $18,155,892.32. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sue Gail Eckhardt sold 18,838 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.74, for a total value of $805,136.12. Following the sale, the director owned 21,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $913,781.20. The trade was a 46.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,304 shares of company stock valued at $2,846,164 over the last quarter. 2.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of EXEL stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,370,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,938,011. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.29. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.12 and a 12 month high of $49.62. The firm's fifty day moving average is $41.96 and its 200 day moving average is $39.11.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. The business 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 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, sell-side analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Exelixis

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.