Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,060,000 shares, a drop of 9.5% from the October 15th total of 15,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $893,060. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy purchased 19,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at $55,159,707.85. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Exact Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXAS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,740,092 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,225,131,000 after buying an additional 180,341 shares in the last quarter. 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 stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $163,896,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,105,970 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $211,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 10.9% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,494,480 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $169,924,000 after purchasing an additional 245,980 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $95.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.47.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS stock traded up $4.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $53.92. The stock had a trading volume of 2,889,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,647,984. The stock's 50 day moving average is $65.55 and its 200 day moving average is $56.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of -46.09 and a beta of 1.27. Exact Sciences 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 0.72, a current ratio of 2.12 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 7.95% and a negative return on equity of 6.17%. The company had revenue of $708.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. Exact Sciences's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Exact Sciences will post -1.08 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.