Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Gap Up to $70.41

Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $70.41, but opened at $79.59. Exact Sciences shares last traded at $76.02, with a volume of 2,122,520 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on EXAS. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Wednesday. TheStreet cut Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, December 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.44.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $13.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -63.88 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.12.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $646.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.83 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 8.17%. Exact Sciences’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.72) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 966 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $59,341.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,488 shares in the company, valued at $459,987.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $59,279.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,489 shares in the company, valued at $4,330,139.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 966 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total value of $59,341.38. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $459,987.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXAS. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in Exact Sciences by 459.5% in the fourth quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 414 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.