Oppenheimer Downgrades Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) to Market Perform

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $33.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $41.00.

EXEL has been the subject of several other reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Exelixis from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Exelixis from $29.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.00.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL stock opened at $32.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.71. The company has a market cap of $9.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $20.01 and a fifty-two week high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Exelixis’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total value of $36,486.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,666,873. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 314,736 shares of company stock worth $10,849,110. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Exelixis by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,473,000 after acquiring an additional 991,494 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter worth $14,979,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exelixis by 12.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,281,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,425,000 after buying an additional 370,199 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth $12,267,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Exelixis by 263.1% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 483,064 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,536,000 after buying an additional 350,026 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.