Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Cut to Hold at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

EXAS has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup lowered Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Exact Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two equities 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.38.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of EXAS stock opened at $100.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.89. Exact Sciences has a 52-week low of $38.81 and a 52-week high of $101.87. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of -18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $62.85 and its 200 day moving average is $55.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 57,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,477,720. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 2,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $200,288.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,567,549.44. This represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 9,858 shares of company stock valued at $695,289 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 39.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 31,742 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after buying an additional 8,946 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,588 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 88,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,820,000 after acquiring an additional 5,596 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 12.4% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,281,639 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $142,062,000 after acquiring an additional 362,314 shares during the period. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the first quarter valued at about $149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

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.