Bank of America Downgrades Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) to Neutral

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $39.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 15.86% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on EXEL. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.88.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXEL opened at $33.66 on Tuesday. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $19.20 and a 52-week high of $36.97. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.20 and its 200-day moving average is $27.43.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exelixis will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total transaction of $36,486.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 498,945 shares in the company, valued at $15,666,873. This represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director George Poste sold 30,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.00, for a total value of $1,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 169,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,746,680. The trade was a 15.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 339,736 shares of company stock valued at $11,508,610. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXEL. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Exelixis during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at $61,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,010 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

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.