Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Shares Down 5.6% – Here’s Why

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)’s stock price fell 5.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $34.39 and last traded at $34.38. 399,288 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 2,414,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America cut Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Exelixis Stock Down 5.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.91 and a 200 day moving average of $29.64.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total value of $709,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 580,325 shares in the company, valued at $16,475,426.75. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total transaction of $1,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 169,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Exelixis by 45.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 90,211 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,031,000 after acquiring an additional 28,126 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $309,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Exelixis by 4.3% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 67,740 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Exelixis in the second quarter valued at approximately $801,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Exelixis by 242.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 89,449 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,010,000 after buying an additional 63,352 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.