Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.76.

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXAS. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Craig Hallum reduced their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of EXAS opened at $54.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $57.48 and a 200 day moving average of $59.93. The company has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a PE ratio of -46.39 and a beta of 1.24. Exact Sciences has a 52-week low of $40.62 and a 52-week high of $79.62.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.80 million. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Exact Sciences will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy acquired 19,500 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $51.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,325.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at $55,159,707.85. The trade was a 1.85 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Exact Sciences by 838.1% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.