Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 8.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 794,643 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 72,798 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $20,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at $4,396,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 36,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $944,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Exelixis by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 39,261 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 11,757 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 376.8% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 9,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 7,710 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at $264,000. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Exelixis from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Exelixis from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Exelixis from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Dana Aftab sold 96,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $3,394,510.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 498,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,463,075. This trade represents a 16.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.38, for a total transaction of $659,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 605,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,968,473.50. This trade represents a 3.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 339,736 shares of company stock worth $11,508,610 in the last quarter. 2.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Exelixis Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $33.68 on Friday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.20 and a 1 year high of $36.97. The firm has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.47.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $539.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $490.31 million. Exelixis had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 22.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 1.69 EPS for the current 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.