Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Short Interest Down 9.5% in October

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,060,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the October 15th total of 15,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EXAS shares. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.47.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS traded up $4.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,927,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,643,691. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a PE ratio of -45.43 and a beta of 1.27. Exact Sciences has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $79.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $708.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In related news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $893,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EXAS. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 16.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,160,000 after acquiring an additional 12,349 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,740,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,225,131,000 after buying an additional 180,341 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,419 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 175.3% during the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,258,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $155,954,000 after buying an additional 1,438,010 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Exact Sciences

Exact Sciences Corporation provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products in the United States and internationally. The company offers Cologuard, a non-invasive stool-based DNA screening test to detect DNA and hemoglobin biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer and pre-cancer. It also provides Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score Test; Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score Test; Oncotype DX Colon Recurrence Score Test; OncoExTra Test for tumor profiling for patients with advanced, metastatic, refractory, relapsed, or recurrent cancer; and Covid-19 testing services.