Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,435 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 11,383 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $2,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EXAS. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $821,000. Sculptor Capital LP bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,819,000. Samlyn Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the second quarter valued at $30,426,000. Armistice Capital LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 91.6% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,400,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,154,000 after purchasing an additional 669,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $28,608,000. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy purchased 19,500 shares of the business’s 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on EXAS shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.94.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of EXAS traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $51.84. 156,431 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,184,990. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.03. The company has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.31 and a beta of 1.24. Exact Sciences Co. has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $79.62.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The business had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Exact Sciences Profile

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.