Synovus Financial Corp Buys Shares of 7,200 Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Synovus Financial Corp bought a new stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 7,200 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $490,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EXAS. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 838.1% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the second quarter worth about $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 0.6 %

Exact Sciences stock opened at $60.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.60 and a beta of 1.24. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.62 and a fifty-two week high of $79.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.08.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $708.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. Exact Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy acquired 19,500 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $51.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,758 shares in the company, valued at $893,060. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXAS shares. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.94.

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.