First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 974,446 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 244,516 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.51% of Exact Sciences worth $53,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 1,553.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 429,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,835,000 after purchasing an additional 403,724 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 189.5% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 2,145,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $113,995,000 after buying an additional 1,404,086 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 25.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 198,287 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,848,000 after buying an additional 40,258 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 643.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,286,595 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $70,390,000 after buying an additional 1,113,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 255.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 34,720 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,845,000 after buying an additional 24,951 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Exact Sciences stock opened at $103.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.43 and a quick ratio of 2.17. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 12 month low of $38.81 and a 12 month high of $103.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $102.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.06. The company has a market cap of $19.74 billion, a PE ratio of -94.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.41.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.29). Exact Sciences had a positive return on equity of 0.53% and a negative net margin of 6.40%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.06) EPS. Exact Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 23.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on EXAS shares. William Blair cut shares of Exact Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Exact Sciences from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $92.13.

Exact Sciences Profile

Exact Sciences Corporation is a molecular diagnostics company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, dedicated to the early detection and prevention of cancer. The company’s flagship product, Cologuard®, is a noninvasive, stool-based DNA screening test for colorectal cancer that was developed in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. By combining DNA mutation analysis with hemoglobin detection, Cologuard aims to improve screening adherence and identify cancers and precancerous lesions in average-risk adults.

Since its founding in 1995, Exact Sciences has expanded its portfolio through strategic acquisitions and internal research and development.