Traders Purchase High Volume of Exelixis Put Options (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 10,811 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,351% compared to the typical daily volume of 745 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EXEL. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Exelixis from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Exelixis in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.60.

Exelixis Price Performance

Exelixis stock traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $54.94. 724,134 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,721,716. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.80. Exelixis has a fifty-two week low of $33.76 and a fifty-two week high of $56.21. The stock has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.42.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.12. Exelixis had a net margin of 35.08% and a return on equity of 39.89%. The firm had revenue of $610.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $607.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Exelixis will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exelixis news, Director Jack L. Wyszomierski sold 3,925 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.55, for a total value of $198,408.75. Following the sale, the director directly owned 284,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,375,611.20. The trade was a 1.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Dana Aftab sold 43,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,187,757.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 594,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,945,209.35. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 219,170 shares of company stock valued at $10,620,641 over the last 90 days. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exelixis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXEL. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Exelixis by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,658,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $598,647,000 after buying an additional 4,477,029 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 21.6% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,501,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $805,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,466,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $106,460,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 100.1% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,655,069 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $109,654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328,087 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Exelixis by 1,821.0% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,188,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapies primarily for the treatment of cancer. Building on a platform that leverages model organism genetics and high-throughput screening, the company focuses its research on kinase inhibitors that modulate critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and metastasis. Exelixis’s translational research approach aims to advance novel compounds from early-stage discovery through clinical development and regulatory approval.

The company’s most recognized products include CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib), approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, and COMETRIQ® (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.