Citizens Jmp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Citizens Jmp from $55.00 to $65.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Citizens Jmp’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.95% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Exelixis in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Exelixis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Exelixis Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $64.39 on Monday. Exelixis has a 12-month low of $34.63 and a 12-month high of $64.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.24. The company has a market cap of $15.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.47.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $628.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Exelixis will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exelixis

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total transaction of $526,511.92. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $862,799.14. This represents a 37.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Exelixis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,581,991,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Exelixis by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,299,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $184,391,000 after buying an additional 39,920 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Exelixis by 1.7% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,388,920 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $145,351,000 after buying an additional 58,149 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Exelixis by 62.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,534,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $108,726,000 after buying an additional 970,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Exelixis by 30.7% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,149,397 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $116,949,000 after buying an additional 504,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. The company’s research programs center primarily on targeted therapies, including treatments designed to inhibit signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and progression.

Exelixis’ lead product is CABOMETYX (cabozantinib), an oral medicine approved in the United States for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer.