Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Hold

Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

EXAS has been the topic of several other research reports. William Blair lowered Exact Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their target price on Exact Sciences from $74.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.38.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 0.2%

EXAS stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $100.90. 19,177,434 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,186,310. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.58, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.34. Exact Sciences has a 52-week low of $38.81 and a 52-week high of $101.87.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $850.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.42 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 34.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.75%. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.21) EPS. Exact Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In other Exact Sciences news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 57,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,477,720. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 2,858 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $200,288.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,368 shares in the company, valued at $1,567,549.44. This trade represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,858 shares of company stock valued at $695,289 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 39.2% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 31,742 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 8,946 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Exact Sciences by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,588 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 88,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,820,000 after buying an additional 5,596 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,281,639 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $142,062,000 after buying an additional 362,314 shares during the period. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

About Exact Sciences

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.