Swiss National Bank Boosts Stock Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 547,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $37,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 74.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,025,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $899,528,000 after purchasing an additional 5,557,168 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $163,896,000. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 91.6% in the second 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 19.0% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,303,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $55,089,000 after purchasing an additional 208,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG raised its stake in Exact Sciences by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,138,526 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $78,627,000 after purchasing an additional 90,740 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy purchased 19,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $51.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $65,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,758 shares in the company, valued at $893,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $52.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of -45.04 and a beta of 1.27. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1 year low of $40.62 and a 1 year high of $79.62. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.99.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released 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). The business had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EXAS shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.47.

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.