State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Stock Holdings in Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D has reduced its holdings in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 8.5% during the first quarter, resulting in ownership of 64,167 shares valued at approximately $2.78 million.
• Several other institutional investors have increased their stakes, with the National Pension Service raising its position by 75.1% and OneDigital Investment Advisors slightly growing theirs by 0.3%.
• Exact Sciences reported earnings of $0.22 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and has a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $67.43.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 8.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,167 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 5,953 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $2,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 100,872 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,367,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 75.1% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 681 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,986 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 7,036 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 95.8% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 926 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXAS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.43.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $47.00 on Thursday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $49.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.90 billion, a PE ratio of -8.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.93. Exact Sciences Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $38.81 and a fifty-two week high of $72.83.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.24. The company had revenue of $811.09 million during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In other 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 sale, the director directly owned 72,759 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at this link. Also, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 59,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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