Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Trading Up 4.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) shot up 4.8% during trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $73.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Exact Sciences traded as high as $51.50 and last traded at $51.64. 762,199 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 2,291,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.26.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America cut their price target on Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.24.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exact Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Huntington National Bank increased 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 acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.29 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 37.29% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The business had revenue of $713.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $701.45 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

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.