LSV Asset Management Lowers Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Key Points

• LSV Asset Management reduced its stake in Exelixis, Inc. by 0.1% in Q1, now holding approximately 8.16 million shares valued at $301 million, making it the 28th largest position in their portfolio.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Exelixis, with HC Wainwright increasing it to $53.00 and Citi to $56.00, reflecting a general consensus of a Moderate Buy rating.
• Insider selling has been notable, with CMO Amy C. Peterson selling 72,776 shares for over $3.3 million, indicating a 13.52% decrease in her ownership stake.

LSV Asset Management trimmed its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,161,338 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 8,509 shares during the period. Exelixis makes up 0.7% of LSV Asset Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. LSV Asset Management owned 2.96% of Exelixis worth $301,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,372 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Exelixis by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 17,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $573,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 87,681 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,920,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 7,535 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $324,683.15. Following the sale, the director owned 358,882 shares in the company, valued at $15,464,225.38. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Tomas J. Heyman sold 4,544 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.29, for a total transaction of $201,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 32,470 shares in the company, valued at $1,438,096.30. The trade was a 12.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 456,605 shares of company stock valued at $20,966,005. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXEL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Benchmark reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. One 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 company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.44.

Exelixis Price Performance

Exelixis stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.68. 1,816,457 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,095,081. Exelixis, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.26 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62. The company has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.29. The firm's fifty day moving average is $42.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.92.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $568.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $574.36 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 27.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelixis Company 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.