Graham Capital Management L.P. Takes $520,000 Position in Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. invested approximately $520,000 in Exact Sciences Corporation by acquiring 12,003 shares during the first quarter.
• Exact Sciences reported a quarterly revenue of $811.09 million, surpassing analyst expectations, and posted an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.22, beating predictions by $0.24.
• Institutional investors currently hold 88.82% of Exact Sciences' stock, with several hedge funds increasing their stakes significantly in recent months.

Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,003 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $520,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 9.6% in the first quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,772,369 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $76,726,000 after purchasing an additional 155,369 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at $325,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at $176,000. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 67.8% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 45,285 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 18,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 9.7% in the first quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 233,197 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $10,095,000 after purchasing an additional 20,661 shares in the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

EXAS traded down $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,838,130. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a PE ratio of -9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.05. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 12-month low of $38.81 and a 12-month high of $72.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.28.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $811.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $774.43 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 34.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.75%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Craig Hallum lifted their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exact Sciences news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the business'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 transaction, the director directly owned 59,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,519,603.24. The trade was a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.