California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 61,398 Shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,331,027 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 61,398 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $44,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Exelixis by 87.6% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 558,798 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,831,000 after buying an additional 260,940 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,159,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $105,208,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,482 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the 4th quarter worth about $713,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Exelixis during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,103,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Exelixis in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,867,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Exelixis Trading Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $37.04 on Thursday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.14 and a 12 month high of $40.02. The company has a market capitalization of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.48.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, CFO Christopher J. Senner sold 29,314 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 779,607 shares in the company, valued at $28,174,996.98. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick J. Haley sold 10,000 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total value of $388,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 341,028 shares in the company, valued at $13,231,886.40. This trade represents a 2.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 140,343 shares of company stock worth $5,177,234. Company insiders own 2.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EXEL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Exelixis from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Brookline Capital Management started coverage on Exelixis in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Exelixis from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.