Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Trading Down 4.5% – Here’s What Happened

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was down 4.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $52.11 and last traded at $52.32. Approximately 157,527 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 2,568,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on EXAS shares. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.76.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.85 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.40. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy acquired 19,500 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 1,153.2% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 187,807 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,388,000 after purchasing an additional 172,821 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 11,800 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth about $2,083,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Exact Sciences by 59.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 335,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,868,000 after buying an additional 125,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,292,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,017,000 after buying an additional 45,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

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.