Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Down 6.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) traded down 6.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $42.89 and last traded at $43.39. 291,914 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 2,288,119 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXAS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.83.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 1.25.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 37.29%. The company had revenue of $713.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $701.45 million. On average, research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,760,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $323,669,000 after buying an additional 2,462,165 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,537,617 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $985,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,321 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 107.7% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,919,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513,873 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth $821,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $50,625,000. Institutional investors 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.