Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $36.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Brookline Capital Management initiated coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Bank of America downgraded Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exelixis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $37.53 on Monday. Exelixis has a 52 week low of $20.14 and a 52 week high of $37.64. The company has a market capitalization of $10.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.50.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,807 shares of company stock worth $6,326,573 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Exelixis by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $979,994,000 after acquiring an additional 121,750 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Exelixis by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $272,056,000 after purchasing an additional 67,470 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,110,000 after purchasing an additional 708,312 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $132,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $132,101,000 after buying an additional 810,857 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by 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.