Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from twenty-four analysts, with a price target range suggesting substantial growth potential.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a surprising profit of $0.22 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking a 16% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Recent insider trading activity includes Director James Edward Doyle selling 1,485 shares, reducing his position by 2.42%.

Shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.1905.

EXAS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research lowered their price target on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Zacks Research raised Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays upped their price target on Exact Sciences from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $68.00 price target on Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Exact Sciences from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ EXAS opened at $59.46 on Friday. Exact Sciences has a 1-year low of $38.81 and a 1-year high of $72.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.47 and a 200-day moving average of $50.41. The firm has a market cap of $11.26 billion, a PE ratio of -10.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 1.24.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.24. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%.The company had revenue of $811.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $774.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. Exact Sciences's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total value of $62,399.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 59,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,519,603.24. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 16,558 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $906,000 after acquiring an additional 3,115 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $274,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 12,813 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,941 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,539 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 3,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.