Prospera Financial Services Inc Lowers Stock Holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Prospera Financial Services Inc reduced its holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,228 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,930 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 838.1% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Vestor Capital LLC purchased a new position in Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on EXAS shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 21st. BTIG Research cut their target price on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.47.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

EXAS stock opened at $55.14 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $64.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.85. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12-month low of $40.62 and a 12-month high of $79.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $10.21 billion, a PE ratio of -47.13 and a beta of 1.27.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. The business had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.80 million. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.13 EPS for the current year.

Exact Sciences 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.