Oppenheimer Downgrades Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) to Market Perform

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $33.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $41.00.

EXEL has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America downgraded Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Exelixis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.00.

Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $32.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.82. Exelixis has a 1-year low of $20.01 and a 1-year high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total value of $36,486.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,666,873. This represents a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 289,736 shares of company stock valued at $10,139,360 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Exelixis by 124.0% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,473,000 after purchasing an additional 991,494 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in Exelixis during the third quarter worth approximately $14,979,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Exelixis by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,281,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,425,000 after acquiring an additional 370,199 shares during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new position in Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at $12,267,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 263.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 483,064 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,536,000 after purchasing an additional 350,026 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.