Sandler Capital Management Takes $4.56 Million Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Sandler Capital Management purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 67,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,556,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EXAS. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 16.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,760 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at $742,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.6% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 13.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 448,640 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,377,000 after acquiring an additional 53,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 143.5% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 22,230 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 13,102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.13% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXAS traded up $1.22 during trading on Monday, reaching $79.55. The stock had a trading volume of 416,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,959,063. Exact Sciences Co. has a one year low of $29.27 and a one year high of $100.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of -32.23 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.28.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The medical research company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.05. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 14.08% and a negative net margin of 18.76%. The business had revenue of $622.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $601.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.94) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In related news, insider Brian Baranick sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.04, for a total transaction of $114,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,389.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Exact Sciences news, insider Brian Baranick sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.04, for a total transaction of $114,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $754,389.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jeffrey Thomas Elliott sold 30,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.92, for a total value of $2,505,013.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,860 shares of company stock worth $2,944,657 in the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on EXAS shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Exact Sciences from $99.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.00.

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.