Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Stock Price Down 4.5% – Here’s What Happened

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) traded down 4.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $52.11 and last traded at $52.32. 157,527 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 2,568,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.76.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.85 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.54 and its 200-day moving average is $59.40.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy acquired 19,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at $55,159,707.85. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,261 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,436 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 2.7% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its position in 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 buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.