Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,335 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $1,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors raised its position in Exact Sciences by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,537,617 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $985,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,321 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Exact Sciences by 74.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,760,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $323,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,462,165 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Exact Sciences by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,269,823 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $239,922,000 after purchasing an additional 876,985 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,122,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $175,165,000 after purchasing an additional 16,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Exact Sciences by 107.7% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,919,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $164,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $54.01 on Friday. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1 year low of $39.97 and a 1 year high of $72.83. The company has a market cap of $10.19 billion, a PE ratio of -9.70 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.73 and its 200 day moving average is $52.22.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.16. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 37.29%. The company had revenue of $706.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.60) EPS. Exact Sciences’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EXAS shares. Mizuho started coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.90.

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.