Exact Sciences Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 16,937 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 291% compared to the average volume of 4,328 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Exact Sciences news, EVP Sarah Condella sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $140,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,025,090. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jacob A. Orville sold 966 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $59,341.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,488 shares in the company, valued at $459,987.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 3,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 0.6% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 26,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its position in Exact Sciences by 3.1% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,449 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 4,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Exact Sciences by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 773 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EXAS. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet downgraded shares of Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Benchmark upgraded Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.44.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXAS opened at $63.86 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.13. The company has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of -56.02 and a beta of 1.25. Exact Sciences has a twelve month low of $56.05 and a twelve month high of $100.77.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.53) by $0.26. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 8.17%. The company had revenue of $646.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.72) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Exact Sciences will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.