Avanza Fonder AB Takes Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 19,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,096,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $821,000. Sculptor Capital LP bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the second quarter valued at $32,819,000. Samlyn Capital LLC purchased a new position in Exact Sciences during the second quarter worth about $30,426,000. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 91.6% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,400,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,154,000 after acquiring an additional 669,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,608,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy purchased 19,500 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXAS opened at $51.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.26. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.62 and a fifty-two week high of $79.62. The company has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.22 and a beta of 1.24.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $708.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on EXAS. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.94.

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.