Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,031 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,413 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Exelixis by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 113,631 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after buying an additional 4,185 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $911,000. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $886,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Exelixis by 131,150.0% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 10,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 10,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EXEL shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered Exelixis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.29.

Insider Activity

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

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL stock opened at $23.29 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.39, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.54. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $18.08 and a one year high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.27 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $479.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $481.23 million. Research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exelixis 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.