Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Short Interest Update

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,690,000 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 12,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.2 days. Approximately 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EXEL. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com raised Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelixis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of Exelixis stock traded up $0.35 on Tuesday, reaching $26.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,226,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,024,110. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $25.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.51. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $18.64 and a 1 year high of $27.83. The firm has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.54.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.44. Exelixis had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $637.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.21 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,398,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 721,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,622,479.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Maria C. Freire sold 8,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.56, for a total value of $219,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 91,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,417,145.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,398,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 721,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,622,479.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 327,858 shares of company stock worth $8,640,129 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Exelixis by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 27,102,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $608,993,000 after purchasing an additional 424,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Exelixis by 0.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,163,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $340,714,000 after acquiring an additional 61,350 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Exelixis by 107.7% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 5,763,728 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,511,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,021 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Exelixis by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,137,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $115,434,000 after acquiring an additional 349,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exelixis by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,281,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,425,000 after purchasing an additional 370,199 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% 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.