California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 10,289 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 331,655 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 10,289 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $24,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 459.5% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 414 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 773 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.1 %

EXAS opened at $58.85 on Monday. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.05 and a fifty-two week high of $100.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.93.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its 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. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 8.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.60%. The firm had revenue of $646.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.72) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $908,611.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,212,250.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $908,611.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,212,250.51. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,025,090. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,113 shares of company stock valued at $4,165,273. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EXAS shares. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price 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. Benchmark upgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet cut shares of Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.44.

Exact Sciences 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.