Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Sets New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Exact Sciences shares hit a new 12-month low at $37.98 after Barclays downgraded their price target from $65 to $55, although they still hold an overweight rating on the stock.
• Despite the recent downturn, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $70, supported by various analysts' bullish reports.
• Insider trading activity included Director Katherine S. Zanotti selling 3,207 shares at an average price of $53.20, reducing her ownership by 4.22%.

Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $64.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Exact Sciences traded as low as $37.98 and last traded at $42.38, with a volume of 205729 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.91.

EXAS has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In related news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total value of $170,612.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 72,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,870,778.80. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 19.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 105,006 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,580,000 after acquiring an additional 16,773 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 28.8% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 42,248 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 9,456 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Exact Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $157,805,000. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 3.4% in the second quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 116,547 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,193,000 after acquiring an additional 3,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 8.6% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 71,366 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $3,792,000 after acquiring an additional 5,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 5.0%

The business's 50 day moving average is $51.55 and its 200-day moving average is $50.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of -7.55, a P/E/G ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 0.93.

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