Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EXAS. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,105,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $211,104,000 after buying an additional 7,873 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 10.9% in 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 buying an additional 245,980 shares during the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in Exact Sciences by 25.1% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,449,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $98,738,000 after buying an additional 290,585 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Exact Sciences by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,330,939 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $74,785,000 after buying an additional 38,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences in the third quarter worth $821,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Exact Sciences stock opened at $45.00 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.84. Exact Sciences Co. has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $79.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 1.25.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 5.29% and a negative net margin of 37.29%. The firm had revenue of $713.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $701.45 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

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.