Exact Sciences Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 24,707 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,053% compared to the average volume of 2,142 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 57,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,477,720. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 2,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $200,288.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,368 shares in the company, valued at $1,567,549.44. The trade was a 11.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Exact Sciences by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 30,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,664,000 after acquiring an additional 7,897 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $164,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter valued at $83,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 450.3% during the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 21,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 38.9% in the third quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,030,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,377,000 after purchasing an additional 288,509 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS stock traded up $17.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $87.62. The stock had a trading volume of 15,325,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,796,009. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.56. Exact Sciences has a twelve month low of $38.81 and a twelve month high of $89.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.60 billion, a PE ratio of -16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.34.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.11. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 34.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.75%. The firm had revenue of $850.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.21) EPS. Exact Sciences’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Exact Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXAS. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.06.

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.