Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Trading Up 5% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) traded up 5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $53.85 and last traded at $54.32. 128,097 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 2,559,165 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EXAS shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.94.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a PE ratio of -45.61 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.32.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The company 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. Analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exact Sciences news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Exact Sciences by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,261 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Exact Sciences by 2.7% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 838.1% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Exact Sciences by 6.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,489 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 1.4% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Company Profile

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.