Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,671,987 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 757,265 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Exelixis worth $1,058,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 330.4% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,484,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $82,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907,167 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 233.4% during the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,400,270 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $51,698,000 after acquiring an additional 980,319 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,321,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $132,101,000 after acquiring an additional 810,857 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,110,000 after acquiring an additional 708,312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Exelixis from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on Exelixis from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.44.

Exelixis Trading Down 0.8%

EXEL stock opened at $37.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.29. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.12 and a 12-month high of $49.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.04.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $568.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $574.36 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 27.47% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $4,600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 967,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,520,732. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 126,383 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.96, for a total value of $6,061,328.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 446,459 shares in the company, valued at $21,412,173.64. The trade was a 22.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 456,605 shares of company stock worth $20,966,005 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Company Profile

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.