Jennison Associates LLC Increases Stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 94.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,360,917 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 659,235 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.75% of Exact Sciences worth $100,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EXAS. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 459.5% during the fourth quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 414 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 40.0% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 700 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 29.5% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 773 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on EXAS shares. TheStreet cut shares of Exact Sciences from a "c-" rating to a "d+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 owns 71,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 1,078 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total value of $66,297.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,658 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $532,467. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,113 shares of company stock valued at $4,165,273 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of EXAS traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,777,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,299,348. The company's 50-day moving average is $63.42 and its 200 day moving average is $65.04. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12-month low of $56.05 and a 12-month high of $100.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.64 and a beta of 1.25.

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