Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Gap Up to $70.41

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $70.41, but opened at $79.59. Exact Sciences shares last traded at $76.02, with a volume of 2,122,520 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EXAS shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. TheStreet downgraded Exact Sciences from a "c-" rating to a "d+" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Guggenheim started coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Benchmark upgraded Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $91.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.31.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 4.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -66.56 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $61.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 2.07.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.26. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 8.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.60%. The firm had revenue of $646.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $638.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.72) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 73,787 shares in the company, valued at $5,165,090. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 73,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,165,090. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 2,154 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.32, for a total transaction of $127,775.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $849,699.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,113 shares of company stock valued at $4,025,273 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exact Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXAS. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 459.5% in the 4th quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 414 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company's stock.

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.