Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,980 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EXAS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,676,611 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $541,823,000 after buying an additional 698,740 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,487,009 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $383,652,000 after buying an additional 804,159 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,961,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,254,000 after buying an additional 418,770 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,591,057 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $175,458,000 after buying an additional 91,883 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,858,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $137,483,000 after buying an additional 192,372 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EXAS shares. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet cut shares of Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Benchmark raised shares of Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.44.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $908,611.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,212,250.51. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel James Herriott sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total transaction of $25,522.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,994.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $908,611.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,212,250.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $63.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.02 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.13. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12-month low of $56.05 and a 12-month high of $100.77.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $646.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.83 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 8.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.72) EPS. Research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

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.