Barclays Downgrades Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) to Equal Weight

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was downgraded by Barclays from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $25.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.60% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on EXEL. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, January 26th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Exelixis in a research note on Friday, December 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.29.

Exelixis Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EXEL opened at $22.81 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.54. Exelixis has a 1-year low of $18.08 and a 1-year high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. Exelixis had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $479.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $481.23 million. On average, research analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Alan M. Garber sold 19,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $461,112.05. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,703 shares in the company, valued at $857,229.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 47,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.45, for a total transaction of $1,008,579.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 384,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,255,375.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alan M. Garber sold 19,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.01, for a total value of $461,112.05. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $857,229.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BTC Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the first quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 7,555 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Exelixis by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 53,239 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Exelixis by 948.3% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,454,277 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,240,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,150 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.