Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Downgraded to “Market Perform” Rating by Oppenheimer

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.50.

Exelixis Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of EXEL opened at $34.13 on Friday. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $20.01 and a 52-week high of $37.59. The company has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.91 and a 200 day moving average of $29.64.

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

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total transaction of $36,486.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,666,873. The trade was a 0.23 % 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 valued at $10,849,110. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Exelixis in the third quarter worth about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $61,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.