Exact Sciences Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 16,937 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 291% compared to the average volume of 4,328 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXAS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark upgraded Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet downgraded Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel James Herriott sold 421 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $25,862.03. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 6,494 shares in the company, valued at $398,926.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 459.5% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 414 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 2.3 %

EXAS stock opened at $63.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of -56.02 and a beta of 1.25. Exact Sciences has a 1 year low of $56.05 and a 1 year high of $100.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $646.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.83 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 8.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.72) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.