Investors Purchase High Volume of Exelixis Call Options (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 3,627 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 111% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,719 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EXEL shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price target on Exelixis from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their price target on Exelixis from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays increased their target price on Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.00, for a total value of $58,812.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $388,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 341,028 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,231,886.40. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,641 shares of company stock valued at $4,810,161 over the last 90 days. 2.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Exelixis by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,429,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $979,994,000 after buying an additional 121,750 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,169,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $272,056,000 after acquiring an additional 67,470 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 2.2% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,795,074 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $287,794,000 after acquiring an additional 164,134 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Exelixis by 40.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,572,189 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $205,725,000 after buying an additional 1,596,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Exelixis by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,967,005 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,101,000 after buying an additional 810,857 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exelixis Stock Up 3.6%

Exelixis stock opened at $46.26 on Friday. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $48.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.68. The stock has a market cap of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.25.

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

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.