Magnetar Financial LLC Takes Position in Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC has acquired 7,511 shares of Exact Sciences Corporation, valued at approximately $325,000, marking a new position in the medical research company.
• Exact Sciences reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.22, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.24, and revenue of $811.09 million, increasing 16% year-over-year.
• Analysts have mixed views on Exact Sciences, with target price revisions ranging from a high of $70.00 to a low of $46.00, but a majority maintain a "buy" or "overweight" rating.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,511 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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. National Pension Service lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 75.1% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 681 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total transaction of $170,612.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 72,759 shares in the company, valued at $3,870,778.80. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total value of $62,399.70. Following the sale, the director owned 59,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,519,603.24. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Exact Sciences stock traded up $2.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,185,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,240,832. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 12 month low of $38.81 and a 12 month high of $72.83. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $48.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.19 billion, a PE ratio of -9.91, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business 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 firm earned ($0.09) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXAS. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.05.

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.