Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. Takes $702,000 Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,500 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,625,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 549,262 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $30,863,000 after purchasing an additional 213,557 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $9,611,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 139.6% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 255,842 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $14,376,000 after purchasing an additional 149,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 57.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,683 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $21,334,000 after acquiring an additional 138,089 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $69.25.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS stock traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.92. 1,276,366 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,594,737. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $46.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.71 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.97 and a fifty-two week high of $72.83.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $713.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $701.45 million. Analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 EPS 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.