Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,620,000 shares, a growth of 26.2% from the March 31st total of 6,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 47,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 384,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,255,375.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Alan M. Garber sold 19,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $857,229.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 47,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 232.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 7,995.2% in the third quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of EXEL traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.46. 2,142,943 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,246,096. The firm has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.21. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $18.21 and a 12-month high of $24.34.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $479.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $481.23 million. Exelixis had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 8.57%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Exelixis will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.