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

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 8,360,000 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the November 15th total of 7,900,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total value of $709,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 580,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,475,426.75. This trade represents a 4.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 169,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,746,680. This represents a 15.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 339,736 shares of company stock valued at $11,508,610 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 24.6% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 911,497 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,653,000 after acquiring an additional 180,021 shares in the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter worth approximately $4,396,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Exelixis by 2.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 36,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Exelixis by 42.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 39,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 11,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 376.8% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 7,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of Exelixis stock opened at $34.69 on Wednesday. Exelixis has a 1 year low of $19.20 and a 1 year high of $36.97. The company has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.38.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EXEL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens raised their price objective on Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.88.

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.