Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Morgan Stanley

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $57.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 17.63% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Exelixis from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on shares of Exelixis from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Exelixis from $51.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Friday, September 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.62.

Exelixis Stock Performance

EXEL traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.20. The company had a trading volume of 565,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,624,347. Exelixis has a twelve month low of $39.71 and a twelve month high of $73.69. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.10.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Exelixis had a return on equity of 45.54% and a net margin of 35.45%. The firm had revenue of $658.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $646.51 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exelixis

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXEL. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Exelixis in the third quarter valued at about $617,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Exelixis during the third quarter worth about $1,679,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,821,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $164,777,000 after buying an additional 277,694 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,521,487 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $614,560,000 after buying an additional 551,416 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $453,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for cancer. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the company has built its business around oncology treatments and continues to advance a pipeline of potential cancer therapies. Its principal marketed medicine is cabozantinib, sold in the United States as Cabometyx and Cometriq. Cabometyx is used to treat certain patients with advanced kidney, liver and thyroid cancers, while Cometriq is used for medullary thyroid cancer.