Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 31,737 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 109.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 60,850 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,737 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 18,687 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $425,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Exelixis by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Exelixis by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.59.

Exelixis Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $37.72 on Tuesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The company has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.66 and a 200-day moving average of $33.00.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 research analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, Director Bob Oliver sold 18,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $694,600.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,396.50. This represents a 35.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This trade represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.