Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 643,631 Shares of Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. has increased its stake in Exact Sciences Corporation by 11.2%, owning approximately 6.4 million shares valued at $277.2 million.
• Exact Sciences reported a 16% year-over-year revenue increase for the latest quarter, with earnings per share of $0.22, surpassing analyst predictions.
• Analysts have given Exact Sciences a Moderate Buy rating, with a consensus price target of $67.43 despite recent adjustments downward by some firms.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,403,872 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 643,631 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.39% of Exact Sciences worth $277,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,637,674 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $763,535,000 after acquiring an additional 617,384 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 12.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,281,639 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $142,062,000 after acquiring an additional 362,314 shares in the last quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 1,539,436 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $86,501,000 after acquiring an additional 142,343 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,421,671 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $79,884,000 after acquiring an additional 81,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,391,599 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $60,242,000 after acquiring an additional 60,660 shares in the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In related news, Director Katherine S. Zanotti sold 3,207 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total transaction of $62,399.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,519,603.24. This trade represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXAS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. 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. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.05.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:EXAS traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $46.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,146,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,780,808. The company has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of -8.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.19. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 52 week low of $38.81 and a 52 week high of $72.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.56.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal 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.