Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $869,000 Stock Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,747 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $869,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 459.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 40.0% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 29.5% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 773 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In other news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 965 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $59,279.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,489 shares in the company, valued at $4,330,139.27. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel James Herriott sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total value of $25,522.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,943 shares in the company, valued at $426,994.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sarah Condella sold 965 shares of the company’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 value of $59,279.95. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,489 shares in the company, valued at $4,330,139.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $63.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.47 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.53 and its 200-day moving average is $65.04. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1-year low of $56.05 and a 1-year high of $100.77.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $646.89 million for 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 period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.72) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.