Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,120,000 shares, a decrease of 8.6% from the October 15th total of 9,980,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXEL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on Exelixis from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.44.

Exelixis Stock Up 0.2 %

EXEL traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $34.52. 1,803,089 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,080,853. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.51. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $19.20 and a 52-week high of $36.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.26.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. Exelixis’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exelixis will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 50,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.13, for a total transaction of $1,706,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 530,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,099,992.25. The trade was a 8.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 96,986 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $3,394,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,075. The trade was a 16.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 248,148 shares of company stock worth $8,042,547. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exelixis by 376.8% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 7,710 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Exelixis during the third quarter valued at $264,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $238,000. Vestcor Inc increased its position in Exelixis by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 59,789 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after buying an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 12.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 14,433 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.