Ruffer LLP Buys New Stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 110,757 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,688,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Seizert Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,195,000 after purchasing an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exelixis by 124.0% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,473,000 after buying an additional 991,494 shares during the period. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,396,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter valued at approximately $577,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 134.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other news, Director Bob Oliver sold 18,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $694,600.75. Following the sale, the director now owns 33,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,396.50. The trade was a 35.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 52,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.98, for a total transaction of $1,946,479.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 303,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,216,403.80. This trade represents a 14.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234 in the last 90 days. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EXEL. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America cut Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.24.

Exelixis Stock Up 1.0 %

EXEL opened at $38.58 on Friday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.14 and a 12 month high of $39.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (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.

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.