HC Wainwright Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its target price raised by HC Wainwright from $29.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.94% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.69.

Exelixis Stock Up 0.8 %

EXEL opened at $34.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $20.01 and a 12-month high of $36.97.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. Exelixis’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. This trade represents a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 169,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter worth $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Exelixis during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Exelixis by 50.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.