Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) Short Interest Down 17.7% in February

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 13,290,000 shares, a drop of 17.7% from the February 13th total of 16,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 4.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exelixis news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $388,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 341,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,231,886.40. This trade represents a 2.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This represents a 28.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $132,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,001,204 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,867,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Exelixis by 330.4% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,484,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $82,730,000 after buying an additional 1,907,167 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Exelixis by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,159,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,208,000 after buying an additional 1,613,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,321,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EXEL. Citigroup raised their price target on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America lowered 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exelixis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.59.

Exelixis Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Exelixis stock traded up $0.70 on Wednesday, hitting $37.06. 2,410,991 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,070,945. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.68. Exelixis has a 52 week low of $20.14 and a 52 week high of $40.02. The company has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a net margin of 24.04% and a return on equity of 23.52%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exelixis Company 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.