Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Trading 5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)’s stock price shot up 5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $53.85 and last traded at $54.32. 128,097 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 2,559,165 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Exact Sciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. BTIG Research boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.76.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.12 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted 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). Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The firm had revenue of $708.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.80 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of the 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXAS. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 1,153.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 172,821 shares during the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,994,000 after buying an additional 11,800 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,083,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings 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 valued at $22,868,000 after purchasing an additional 125,192 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 45,015 shares during the period. 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.