Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,859 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 541 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $1,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 172.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 328,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,398,000 after purchasing an additional 207,623 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 1.6% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,858 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 11.8% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,961,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,254,000 after buying an additional 418,770 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 103.6% during the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 20,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after buying an additional 10,223 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 383.0% during the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 107,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,303,000 after buying an additional 84,888 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EXAS shares. TheStreet cut Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Benchmark upgraded Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.44.

Exact Sciences Trading Down 2.2 %

Exact Sciences stock opened at $71.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.21. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12 month low of $56.05 and a 12 month high of $100.77. The company has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -62.58 and a beta of 1.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,025,090. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,025,090. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 1,879 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.89, for a total value of $106,896.31. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,754 shares in the company, valued at $668,685.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,113 shares of company stock valued at $4,165,273. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.