Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $3.23 Million in Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Exelixis during the first quarter, buying 75,300 shares valued at about $3.23 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted their stakes, and institutions now own 85.27% of Exelixis shares, indicating heavy professional ownership.
• Exelixis reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $0.87 per share versus the $0.75 estimate, while revenue rose 10% year over year to $610.8 million.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 75,300 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,230,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Exelixis by 500.0% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 600 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 1,380.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 829 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXEL. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Exelixis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their target price for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered Exelixis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Exelixis from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley restated a "positive" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Exelixis from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 3,925 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.55, for a total value of $198,408.75. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 284,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,375,611.20. This represents a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 43,451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,187,757.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 594,741 shares in the company, valued at $29,945,209.35. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 219,170 shares of company stock worth $10,620,641. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Exelixis Trading Up 2.9%

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $54.77 on Friday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.76 and a 12-month high of $55.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.50. The stock has a market cap of $13.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.41.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.12. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.08% and a return on equity of 39.89%. The firm had revenue of $610.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapies primarily for the treatment of cancer. Building on a platform that leverages model organism genetics and high-throughput screening, the company focuses its research on kinase inhibitors that modulate critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. Exelixis's translational research approach aims to advance novel compounds from early-stage discovery through clinical development and regulatory approval.

The company's most recognized products include CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib), approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, and COMETRIQ® (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

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