Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,900,000 shares, a decline of 13.4% from the October 31st total of 9,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,823,783.53. This represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 1,162 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,666,873. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 339,736 shares of company stock worth $11,508,610 over the last ninety days. 2.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter worth $42,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in Exelixis during the second quarter valued at $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Exelixis by 107.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exelixis Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:EXEL traded down $0.28 on Tuesday, hitting $35.31. The stock had a trading volume of 224,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,062,215. Exelixis has a 52-week low of $19.20 and a 52-week high of $36.97. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.15.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. Exelixis’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Exelixis from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Guggenheim raised their target price on Exelixis from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Exelixis from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exelixis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.44.

About Exelixis

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.