Jennison Associates LLC Buys 815 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 164,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $3,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Exelixis during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 7,995.2% in the 3rd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,679 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Exelixis by 44.2% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,970 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Exelixis by 17.1% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,577 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the third quarter valued at approximately $100,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Edward Johnson purchased 190,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.70 per share, with a total value of $3,933,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,100,730 shares in the company, valued at $22,785,111. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director David Edward Johnson acquired 190,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.70 per share, with a total value of $3,933,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,100,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,785,111. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 47,020 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,255,375.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EXEL. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TheStreet upgraded Exelixis from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Exelixis from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.29.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL opened at $23.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.18. Exelixis, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.08 and a 52-week high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $479.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $481.23 million. Research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.21 EPS 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.