ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Invests $654,000 in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. has acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences Corporation, purchasing 15,120 shares valued at approximately $654,000 in the first quarter, contributing to the overall institutional ownership at almost 89%.
• Equities research analysts have given Exact Sciences a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $68.62, following varied assessments from firms like Cowen and Evercore ISI.
• In recent trades, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares at an average price of $53.20, reducing her ownership by 4.22% while still holding a significant stake valued at approximately $3.87 million.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new position in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,120 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Exact Sciences by 74.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,760,241 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $323,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,462,165 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in Exact Sciences by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,537,617 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $985,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,321 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Exact Sciences by 107.7% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,919,325 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $164,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513,873 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Exact Sciences by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,269,823 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $239,922,000 after purchasing an additional 876,985 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Exact Sciences by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,637,674 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $763,535,000 after purchasing an additional 617,384 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS traded up $3.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.91. 5,072,446 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,769,823. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.27, a PEG ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.93. The business's fifty day moving average is $50.99 and its 200-day moving average is $49.84. Exact Sciences Corporation has a one year low of $38.81 and a one year high of $72.83. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.24. The company had revenue of $811.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $774.43 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total transaction of $170,612.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 72,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,870,778.80. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.43.

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.