CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Raises Stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 207,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 10,356 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $14,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Gagnon Securities LLC raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.8% in the first quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 72,084 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,654 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 100.0% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 175.3% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,258,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $155,954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,438,010 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 76.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,419 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,740,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,225,131,000 after purchasing an additional 180,341 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 1,155 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.15, for a total value of $69,473.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,156,191 shares in the company, valued at $69,544,888.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,498 shares of company stock worth $90,105. 1.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EXAS. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research lowered their price target on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.80.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of EXAS traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $48.60. 1,664,789 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,616,632. Exact Sciences Co. has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $99.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.02. The company has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.86 and a beta of 1.22.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The medical research company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50). Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 7.12% and a negative net margin of 9.48%. The company had revenue of $637.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $624.95 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Exact Sciences 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.