Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 10,811 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,351% compared to the average daily volume of 745 put options.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 43,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,187,757.85. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 594,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,945,209.35. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 34,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $1,745,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 952,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,615,850. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 219,170 shares of company stock worth $10,620,641. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EXEL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Exelixis from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.60.

Exelixis Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of EXEL traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $54.94. The stock had a trading volume of 724,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,721,716. Exelixis has a 52 week low of $33.76 and a 52 week high of $56.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.18 and a 200 day moving average of $45.80. The company has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.42.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.12. Exelixis had a return on equity of 39.89% and a net margin of 35.08%.The company had revenue of $610.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $607.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Exelixis’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exelixis 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.