Bank of Nova Scotia Takes $265,000 Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,353 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EXAS. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 45.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 957 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 12,014.3% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 848 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,348 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. 90.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $92.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jeffrey Thomas Elliott sold 4,233 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.12, for a total transaction of $258,720.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,241 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,209.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 6,087 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $486,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,425,120. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jeffrey Thomas Elliott sold 4,233 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.12, for a total transaction of $258,720.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,787,209.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,170 shares of company stock worth $3,320,986. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Exact Sciences Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of EXAS opened at $80.83 on Friday. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1-year low of $29.27 and a 1-year high of $85.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.70. The stock has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.68 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.63.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The medical research company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.79) by $0.37. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 23.49% and a negative return on equity of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $602.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $543.18 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.04) earnings per share. Exact Sciences’s revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Co. will post -2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Exact Sciences

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EXACT Sciences Corp. is a cancer screening and diagnostics company. The firm focuses on the early detection and prevention of some forms of cancer. It offers a non-invasive screening test called Cologuard for the early detection of colorectal cancer and pre-cancer and Oncotype DX. The company was founded on February 10, 1995, and is headquartered in Madison, WI.