Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $1.67 Million Investment in Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 30,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,672,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Exelixis by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,658,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $598,647,000 after acquiring an additional 4,477,029 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Exelixis by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,054,743 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $265,379,000 after acquiring an additional 94,218 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Exelixis by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $184,391,000 after purchasing an additional 39,920 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Exelixis by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,206,656 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $184,378,000 after purchasing an additional 995,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in Exelixis by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,722,334 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $163,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,265 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exelixis Trading Up 2.1%

EXEL opened at $52.32 on Tuesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.76 and a 1-year high of $57.57. The company has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.28.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.33% and a return on equity of 42.17%. The company had revenue of $628.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research lowered Exelixis from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Leerink Partners downgraded Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Exelixis from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.79.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In related news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total transaction of $526,511.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 43,451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,187,757.85. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 594,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,945,209.35. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 99,110 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,051. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

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.