Candriam S.C.A. Buys 66,552 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 614,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 66,552 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $20,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Exelixis by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,195,000 after purchasing an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Exelixis by 124.0% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,473,000 after buying an additional 991,494 shares in the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the third quarter worth about $4,396,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $577,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Exelixis by 134.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of EXEL opened at $38.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.91. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.14 and a 52-week high of $39.30.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. As a group, research analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $1,059,407.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 779,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total value of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 303,310 shares in the company, valued at $11,216,403.80. The trade was a 14.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.24.

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.