Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 16,949 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.08% of Exact Sciences worth $7,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,436 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 13,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $763,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its position in Exact Sciences by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 26,153 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 39,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,208,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on EXAS shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $60.00 price target on Exact Sciences and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.26.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

EXAS opened at $43.29 on Tuesday. Exact Sciences Co. has a 52-week low of $40.62 and a 52-week high of $79.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.58. The company has a market cap of $8.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.77 and a beta of 1.25. 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 results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $713.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $701.45 million. On average, analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share 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.