Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Short Interest Up 7.6% in June

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,450,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the May 31st total of 8,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 1,155 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.15, for a total value of $69,473.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,156,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,544,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,498 shares of company stock valued at $90,105 in the last three months. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. boosted its position in Exact Sciences by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 4,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Exact Sciences by 2.1% during the first quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,516 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 65.6% in the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 848 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Morris Harris LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Exact Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 0.0 %

EXAS opened at $43.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.45. Exact Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $40.62 and a fifty-two week high of $100.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $49.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.70.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The medical research company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50). The business had revenue of $637.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $624.95 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 7.12% and a negative net margin of 9.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences will post -1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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.