Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Cut to “Hold” at Leerink Partnrs

Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

EXAS has been the topic of several other reports. Zacks Research raised Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Baird R W cut shares of Exact Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Exact Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.38.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $100.90 on Thursday. Exact Sciences has a 1 year low of $38.81 and a 1 year high of $101.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.45.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $850.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.42 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.21) earnings per share. Exact Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Jacob A. Orville sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $375,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,775. The trade was a 17.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 57,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,477,720. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,858 shares of company stock valued at $695,289. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 5.0% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 2,517 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Exact Sciences by 9.2% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,954 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,971 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,941 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 22,432 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $971,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 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.