Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 18,038 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 66.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 18,038 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Exelixis by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $979,994,000 after acquiring an additional 121,750 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Exelixis by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $272,056,000 after purchasing an additional 67,470 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Exelixis by 308.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001,204 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Exelixis by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,159,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,947,599 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $98,155,000 after buying an additional 485,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EXEL shares. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL stock opened at $36.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.86 and its 200 day moving average is $35.32. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.14 and a 1-year high of $40.26. The company has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.25.

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

Insider Activity

In other Exelixis news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total value of $58,812.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 693,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,034,059. This trade represents a 0.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 141,851 shares of company stock worth $5,236,046. Insiders own 2.82% of the company’s stock.

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.