Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Given a $38.00 Price Target by UBS Group Analysts

Key Points

• UBS Group has lowered its price target for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from $43.00 to $38.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, which suggests only a modest potential upside of 1.34%.
• Despite UBS's pessimism, multiple brokerages remain optimistic, with JMP Securities setting a price target of $50.00, and Citigroup raising theirs to $56.00 along with a "buy" rating.
• Exelixis recently announced a quarterly EPS of $0.75, surpassing expectations, although their revenue has seen a 10.8% decline year-over-year.

UBS Group set a $38.00 target price on Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL - Free Report) in a research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the biotechnology company's stock.

EXEL has been the topic of several other reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Exelixis from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Exelixis from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.44.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,180,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,058,955. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.89. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $23.21 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.69, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.28.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Tomas J. Heyman sold 4,544 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.29, for a total value of $201,253.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 32,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,438,096.30. This represents a 12.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 34,387 shares of the firm'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 approximately $18,155,892.32. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 456,605 shares of company stock valued at $20,966,005 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.82% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 32.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,457 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at about $17,046,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in Exelixis by 1,637.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 746,286 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $24,851,000 after acquiring an additional 703,343 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,073 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $9,159,000 after purchasing an additional 47,845 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.