Sapient Capital LLC Invests $256,000 in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EXEL. Seizert Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Exelixis by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 469,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,195,000 after buying an additional 34,875 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Exelixis by 124.0% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,473,000 after buying an additional 991,494 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Exelixis by 60.3% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 54,863 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 20,641 shares during the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Exelixis during the third quarter worth $4,396,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at $577,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXEL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Brookline Capital Management began coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Oppenheimer cut shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In related news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 41,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total value of $1,428,963.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 288,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,918,529.40. This represents a 12.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,588 shares of company stock worth $3,981,864. Insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Trading Down 0.0 %

EXEL stock opened at $32.80 on Thursday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.14 and a 1-year high of $37.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.53.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released 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 net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelixis 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.