Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.47.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $90.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,159,707.85. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,687 shares in the company, valued at $958,090. The trade was a 6.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 838.1% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXAS opened at $49.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.08. Exact Sciences has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $79.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of -42.34 and a beta of 1.27.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The company had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Exact Sciences will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.