Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 1,649 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lessened its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 57.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,210 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,649 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $40,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Exelixis by 8.0% in the third quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,195,000 after acquiring an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at $4,396,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at $577,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Exelixis by 134.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,302 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter valued at about $573,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This trade represents a 28.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 8,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total transaction of $331,430.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 356,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,479,669. This represents a 2.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer cut Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Brookline Capital Management assumed coverage on Exelixis in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of EXEL opened at $39.15 on Tuesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. Analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.