Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Invests $234,000 in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EXEL. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 308.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,975,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $132,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,001,204 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth about $94,867,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in Exelixis by 330.4% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,484,395 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $82,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907,167 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in 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 buying an additional 1,613,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth $30,321,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, CMO Amy C. Peterson sold 72,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.47, for a total transaction of $3,309,124.72. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 465,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,161,419.71. This represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stelios Papadopoulos sold 36,508 shares of Exelixis stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.35, for a total transaction of $1,619,129.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,279,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,742,099.60. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 458,113 shares of company stock valued at $21,024,817 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on EXEL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 price objective on Exelixis and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim set a $45.00 price target on Exelixis and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Exelixis from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Stephens raised Exelixis from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group set a $43.00 target price on Exelixis and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.28.

Exelixis Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXEL opened at $44.81 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.28. Exelixis, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.20 and a fifty-two week high of $49.62.

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.