Empire Life Investments Inc. Buys 51,113 Shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Key Points

• Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its stake in Exact Sciences Corporation by 21.1%, holding approximately 293,878 shares worth $12.7 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Other institutional investors, including Price T Rowe Associates and Mackenzie Financial Corp, also significantly increased their stakes in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter.
• Analysts have upgraded their target price for Exact Sciences, with an average target of $70.50 and a majority rating of "Moderate Buy" based on positive earnings and revenue growth.

Empire Life Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 21.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,878 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,113 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. owned 0.16% of Exact Sciences worth $12,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 30,000 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,299,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at $20,803,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the 1st quarter worth about $206,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 95.8% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 926 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tredje AP fonden raised its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 386.8% in the 1st quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 68,541 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,967,000 after purchasing an additional 54,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXAS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exact Sciences news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,870,778.80. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Exact Sciences stock traded down $2.16 on Friday, reaching $41.00. 4,781,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,735,512. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.86 and a 200 day moving average of $50.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.81 and a 52 week high of $72.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of -7.55, a PEG ratio of 10.02 and a beta of 0.93.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.24. The business had revenue of $811.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $774.43 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 34.19%. Exact Sciences's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Exact Sciences 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.