Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. Sells 137,288 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lowered its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 541,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 137,288 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. owned about 0.29% of Exact Sciences worth $30,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 241,774 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,585,000 after buying an additional 36,505 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in Exact Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,083,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 59.5% during the 3rd 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 95,827 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,385,000 after buying an additional 24,992 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

EXAS stock opened at $45.00 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $51.73 and a 200-day moving average of $58.82. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12-month low of $40.62 and a 12-month high of $79.62.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EXAS shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two 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, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.83.

Exact Sciences Company 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.