Waddell & Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL

Waddell & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 11,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,501,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $805,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,466,000 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,181,359 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $379,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,575,280 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,960,525 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $246,170,000 after acquiring an additional 394,897 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,180,912 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $172,658,000 after acquiring an additional 419,596 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,722,334 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $163,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,265 shares during the period. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In related news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 3,925 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.55, for a total transaction of $198,408.75. Following the transaction, the director owned 284,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,375,611.20. This trade represents a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 32,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total transaction of $1,599,399.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 357,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,813,948.78. The trade was a 8.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 219,170 shares of company stock valued at $10,620,641 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EXEL. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Exelixis from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Exelixis from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Exelixis to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.35.

Exelixis Trading Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $52.99 on Wednesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.76 and a twelve month high of $53.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.38 and a 200-day moving average of $44.68. The firm has a market cap of $13.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.41.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.12. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.08% and a return on equity of 39.89%. The company had revenue of $610.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $607.51 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapies primarily for the treatment of cancer. Building on a platform that leverages model organism genetics and high-throughput screening, the company focuses its research on kinase inhibitors that modulate critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. Exelixis’s translational research approach aims to advance novel compounds from early-stage discovery through clinical development and regulatory approval.

The company’s most recognized products include CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib), approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, and COMETRIQ® (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.