Fred Alger Management LLC Purchases Shares of 14,453 Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 14,453 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 616.9% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 889 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 62.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 967 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,508 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total value of $58,812.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 693,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,034,059. This trade represents a 0.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 303,310 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,216,403.80. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 141,851 shares of company stock worth $5,236,046 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EXEL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.12.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXEL traded up $7.70 on Wednesday, reaching $44.65. The company had a trading volume of 12,913,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,222,003. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.25. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.14 and a 1-year high of $45.15. The company's fifty day moving average is $36.80 and its 200-day moving average is $35.50.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. On average, research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current 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.