Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Stock Position Lowered by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 47.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,009,503 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,805,023 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $112,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 241,774 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,585,000 after acquiring an additional 36,505 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,083,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,292,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,017,000 after purchasing an additional 45,015 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 95,827 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,385,000 after purchasing an additional 24,992 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Exact Sciences by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,508 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on EXAS. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.83.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of EXAS opened at $44.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.93. Exact Sciences Co. has a one year low of $40.62 and a one year high of $79.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.90.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 37.29%. The business had revenue of $713.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $701.45 million. As a group, analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current 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.