Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. sold 25,414 shares of Exact Sciences Corporation, decreasing its holdings by 7.6% to 310,566 shares, valued at approximately $13.44 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their investments in Exact Sciences, with Larson Financial Group boosting its holdings by an impressive 2,804.8%.
• Exact Sciences recently reported a 16% increase in quarterly revenue, amounting to $811.09 million, surpassing analyst estimates and beating earnings expectations with an EPS of $0.22.

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 310,566 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 25,414 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Exact Sciences worth $13,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 24.0% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 33,598 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 6,508 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the first quarter worth approximately $1,171,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 15.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,243 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 110.0% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,799 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 4,609 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In other news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total value of $170,612.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 72,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,870,778.80. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total transaction of $62,399.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 59,962 shares in the company, valued at $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. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EXAS shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.05.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of NASDAQ EXAS traded up $2.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.81. The company had a trading volume of 4,185,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,240,832. The business's 50-day moving average is $48.73 and its 200-day moving average is $49.11. 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 market cap of $10.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 1.05. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.81 and a 52 week high of $72.83.

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