The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $9.31 Million Holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 136,592 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 35,927 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $9,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $163,896,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 10.9% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,494,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $169,924,000 after purchasing an additional 245,980 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 91.6% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,400,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,154,000 after buying an additional 669,438 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Exact Sciences by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,303,887 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $55,089,000 after buying an additional 208,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,292,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,017,000 after acquiring an additional 45,015 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 commented on EXAS shares. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Benchmark cut 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.29.

Exact Sciences Trading Down 1.8 %

EXAS opened at $60.56 on Wednesday. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12 month low of $40.62 and a 12 month high of $79.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.12.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) 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 analyst estimates of $716.80 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $65,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $958,090. This represents a 6.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 bought at an average cost of $51.35 per share, with a total value of $1,001,325.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. This trade represents a 1.85 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

About Exact Sciences

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.