Exact Sciences Corporation $EXAS Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 729,930 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 18,983 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $38,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 206.6% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,204 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares during the last quarter. NBW Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,526,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $604,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Exact Sciences by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 9,777 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 2,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in Exact Sciences by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 811,200 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $43,107,000 after buying an additional 53,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of EXAS stock opened at $101.25 on Wednesday. Exact Sciences Corporation has a 1-year low of $38.81 and a 1-year high of $101.87. The company has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.03, a PEG ratio of 12.46 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.34.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $850.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.42 million. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 32.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.21) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on EXAS shares. Baird R W downgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $105.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research downgraded Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Exact Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insider Transactions at Exact Sciences

In related news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 57,962 shares in the company, valued at $3,477,720. This represents a 3.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 2,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $200,288.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,368 shares in the company, valued at $1,567,549.44. This represents a 11.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 9,858 shares of company stock valued at $695,289 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% 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.