Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Up 3.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) rose 3.6% during trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $75.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Exact Sciences traded as high as $53.87 and last traded at $53.43. Approximately 587,969 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 2,629,858 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.55.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exact Sciences

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.5% in the first quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 112,760 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,881,000 after buying an additional 3,799 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Exact Sciences by 2,804.8% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 610 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 41.2% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,316 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 6,217 shares in the last quarter. High Note Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 225.5% in the 1st quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 10,710 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 7,420 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 4.0% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,972 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.02 and its 200-day moving average is $53.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.11 billion, a PE ratio of -9.59 and a beta of 0.92.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $706.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.58 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 37.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.60) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.