Empire Life Investments Inc. Sells 2,389 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Empire Life Investments Inc. trimmed its stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,698 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,389 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Exact Sciences worth $16,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 74.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,025,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $899,528,000 after acquiring an additional 5,557,168 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $163,896,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Exact Sciences by 175.3% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,258,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $155,954,000 after buying an additional 1,438,010 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,819,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,426,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In related news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,758 shares in the company, valued at $893,060. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on EXAS shares. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $91.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.64.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of Exact Sciences stock opened at $69.80 on Friday. Exact Sciences Co. has a twelve month low of $40.62 and a twelve month high of $79.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.71 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.64.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical research company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.28. The company had revenue of $699.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $690.02 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 6.70% and a negative return on equity of 4.97%. Exact Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.45) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.87 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.