Peregrine Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 705,286 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 24,454 shares during the period. Exact Sciences comprises 1.0% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned about 0.38% of Exact Sciences worth $30,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 129,024 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at $1,604,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 176,637 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $9,925,000 after purchasing an additional 53,735 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,508 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $66,000. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.20, for a total transaction of $170,612.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 72,759 shares in the company, valued at $3,870,778.80. This trade represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Exact Sciences from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.40.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS traded up $1.46 on Tuesday, reaching $54.60. 2,799,199 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,574,795. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $53.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.30. The stock has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of -9.91, a PEG ratio of 40.34 and a beta of 0.95. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 52-week low of $39.97 and a 52-week high of $72.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

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