Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) by 46.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,089 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 6,055 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Exact Sciences by 22,825.0% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 917 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $188,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXAS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Friday. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.25.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

EXAS traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.19. The company had a trading volume of 164,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,596,104. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1 year low of $39.97 and a 1 year high of $72.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.92 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.57.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 37.29% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The company had revenue of $713.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $701.45 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.