Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Trading Down 4.5% – Should You Sell?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on EXAS. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Craig Hallum decreased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.76.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.35. 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 has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.36 and a beta of 1.24.

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). The business had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. Exact Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Exact Sciences news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy acquired 19,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at $55,159,707.85. This trade represents a 1.85 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 1,153.2% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 187,807 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,388,000 after acquiring an additional 172,821 shares in the last quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 11,800 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,083,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 59.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 335,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,868,000 after purchasing an additional 125,192 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,292,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,017,000 after buying an additional 45,015 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.