abrdn plc Boosts Holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

abrdn plc grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 48.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,494 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.06% of Exact Sciences worth $7,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 11.8% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,961,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,254,000 after purchasing an additional 418,770 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,858,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,483,000 after purchasing an additional 192,372 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 5.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,128,376 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $76,978,000 after buying an additional 57,423 shares in the last quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 7.9% during the third quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 1,018,250 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $69,465,000 after buying an additional 74,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 50.7% during the third quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 711,520 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $48,540,000 after buying an additional 239,520 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $908,611.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,212,250.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Exact Sciences news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 4,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total value of $305,962.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,229,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,629,994. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $908,611.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,212,250.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,113 shares of company stock valued at $4,165,273 over the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 0.1 %

Exact Sciences stock opened at $58.85 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.32. Exact Sciences Co. has a one year low of $56.05 and a one 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) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.26. The business had revenue of $646.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.83 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 8.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.72) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EXAS. 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 research report on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.44.

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.