China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,690 shares during the quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $2,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exelixis by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 32,777 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at $305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 505,289 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,826,000 after purchasing an additional 22,225 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Exelixis by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 3,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EXEL opened at $33.15 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.08. The firm has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.01 and a 12-month high of $37.59.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. Exelixis had a net margin of 22.43% and a return on equity of 20.99%. The company had revenue of $539.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $490.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Exelixis’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 41,588 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 288,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,918,529.40. The trade was a 12.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total transaction of $2,200,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. This trade represents a 10.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,574 shares of company stock valued at $7,376,374 over the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Exelixis from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.06.

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.