Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 4,609 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 110.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,799 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,609 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EXAS. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,387 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth approximately $478,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,833 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 1,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,517 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EXAS shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.90.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 0.9%

EXAS stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,266,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,600,440. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1 year low of $39.97 and a 1 year high of $72.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.61 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.11.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.16. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 37.29% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The company had revenue of $706.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.60) EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.