IFP Advisors Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Key Points

• IFP Advisors Inc reduced its stake in Exact Sciences Corporation by 89.4%, owning just 4,193 shares after selling 35,190 shares during the first quarter.
• Several large investors increased their stakes in Exact Sciences, with Capital World Investors boosting its position by 10.7%, acquiring over 1.6 million additional shares.
• Exact Sciences reported a revenue of $706.79 million for the recent quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and showing a 10.9% year-over-year increase.

IFP Advisors Inc lessened its position in shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 89.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,193 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 35,190 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc's holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 24.0% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 33,598 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 6,508 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,171,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 15.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,243 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Exact Sciences by 110.0% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 8,799 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,609 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In other 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 value of $170,612.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 72,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS traded up $0.43 on Friday, reaching $47.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 712,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,598,033. The stock's 50-day moving average is $52.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.36. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 52-week low of $39.97 and a 52-week high of $72.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.62, a PEG ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.95.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.16. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 36.06% and a negative return on equity of 3.75%. The business had revenue of $706.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $688.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.60) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on EXAS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.50.

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.