Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Up 2.8%

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) shot up 2.8% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $61.56 and last traded at $61.56. 215,600 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,623,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.50.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.91 and a 200-day moving average of $55.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -47.17 and a beta of 1.22.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical research company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.28. The business had revenue of $699.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $690.02 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 6.70% and a negative return on equity of 4.97%. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.45) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 16.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,160,000 after purchasing an additional 12,349 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 13.1% in the first quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,584 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,090,000 after acquiring an additional 18,595 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,559,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,299,070,000 after purchasing an additional 115,058 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 21,106 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 22,687 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.