Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 13,447 Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,447 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after buying an additional 704,786 shares in the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 203.8% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 975,151 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,473,000 after purchasing an additional 654,200 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the third quarter valued at $14,979,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at $17,046,000. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at $12,267,000. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Price Performance

Exelixis stock opened at $36.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $40.02. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.86.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $1,059,407.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,174,996.98. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bob Oliver sold 18,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total transaction of $694,600.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,396.50. The trade was a 35.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock valued at $5,177,234. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EXEL. BMO Capital Markets lowered Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Brookline Capital Management began coverage on Exelixis in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.59.

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.