Milestone Asset Management LLC Buys 170,738 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. $EXEL

Milestone Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 581.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 200,127 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 170,738 shares during the quarter. Exelixis accounts for approximately 1.9% of Milestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Milestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $11,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EXEL. Private Client Services LLC increased its holdings in Exelixis by 0.7% in the third quarter. Private Client Services LLC now owns 28,539 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Exelixis by 0.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 59,420 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,549,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 8.0% during the third quarter. Brindle & Bay Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 3.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,077 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Exelixis by 124.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 757 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, Director Mary Beckerle sold 9,812 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.66, for a total transaction of $526,511.92. Following the sale, the director owned 16,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $862,799.14. This trade represents a 37.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exelixis Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Exelixis stock opened at $62.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.47. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.76 and a 12 month high of $63.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.81.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.06. Exelixis had a return on equity of 42.17% and a net margin of 35.33%. The firm had revenue of $628.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EXEL. Wall Street Zen lowered Exelixis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Exelixis from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (a)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.79.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing medicines for cancer. The company’s research and development activities are centered primarily on targeted therapies and other treatments for solid tumors.

Exelixis’ principal product is cabozantinib, marketed in the United States as CABOMETYX tablets for certain patients with renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and differentiated thyroid cancer. The company also markets COMETRIQ, a cabozantinib formulation approved in the United States for progressive or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

Exelixis was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.