Exact Sciences’ (EXAS) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at William Blair

William Blair reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) in a research note published on Thursday morning,RTT News reports.

EXAS has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Exact Sciences in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum lowered their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.47.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS opened at $52.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.22 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.79 and its 200-day moving average is $55.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Exact Sciences has a 12 month low of $40.62 and a 12 month high of $79.62.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Exact Sciences will post -1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $65,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 838.1% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $35,000. Vestor Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by 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.