Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

EXAS has been the topic of several other research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.05.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 4.7%

EXAS opened at $53.81 on Thursday. Exact Sciences has a one year low of $38.81 and a one year high of $72.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.73 and its 200-day moving average is $49.11. The company has a market capitalization of $10.19 billion, a PE ratio of -9.91, a P/E/G ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.05.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.24. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%.The company had revenue of $811.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $774.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.09) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total transaction of $62,399.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,519,603.24. The trade was a 2.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total transaction of $170,612.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 72,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,870,778.80. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,637,674 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $763,535,000 after purchasing an additional 617,384 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,403,872 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $277,225,000 after buying an additional 643,631 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,281,639 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $142,062,000 after buying an additional 362,314 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 120.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,128,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $135,453,000 after buying an additional 1,707,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $157,805,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Company 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.