Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stake Trimmed by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,217 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,044 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $4,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Exelixis by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after buying an additional 704,786 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at approximately $14,979,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,046,000. Burney Co. bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,267,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156,996 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,828,000 after purchasing an additional 366,141 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Brookline Capital Management started coverage on Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of Exelixis stock opened at $36.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.91. Exelixis, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.14 and a twelve month high of $40.02.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of Exelixis 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 341,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,231,886.40. This trade represents a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,060,561.28. This represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234 in the last 90 days. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.