Analysts Set Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Price Target at $26.29

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.29.

EXEL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Exelixis from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet raised Exelixis from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, January 26th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $23.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,267,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,246,257. Exelixis has a one year low of $18.21 and a one year high of $24.34. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $22.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.54.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Exelixis had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $479.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $481.23 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alan M. Garber sold 19,205 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $461,112.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,703 shares in the company, valued at $857,229.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Alan M. Garber sold 19,205 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $461,112.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $857,229.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 47,020 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.45, for a total value of $1,008,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 384,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,255,375.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 232.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,041 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Exelixis by 44.2% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,970 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company's stock.

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.