Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 72.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,598 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 399,558 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Exact Sciences worth $6,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 16.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,160,000 after purchasing an additional 12,349 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,584 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,090,000 after acquiring an additional 18,595 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,559,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,299,070,000 after acquiring an additional 115,058 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Exact Sciences by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 22,687 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 5.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 207,364 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,361,000 after purchasing an additional 10,356 shares in the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXAS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research cut their target price on Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.38.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Exact Sciences stock opened at $66.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.30. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12 month low of $40.62 and a 12 month high of $79.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of -50.31 and a beta of 1.26.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical research company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.28. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 6.70% and a negative return on equity of 4.97%. The company had revenue of $699.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $690.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.45) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In other news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. 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 13,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $958,090. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.