Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Stock Position Reduced by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 47.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,009,503 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,805,023 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 1.09% of Exact Sciences worth $112,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EXAS. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 139,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,958,000 after purchasing an additional 16,949 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $3,624,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 23,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,692 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Exact Sciences by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 72,752 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,088,000 after acquiring an additional 3,110 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 24,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Two investment 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.83.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ EXAS opened at $44.99 on Friday. Exact Sciences Co. has a 12 month low of $40.62 and a 12 month high of $79.62. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

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

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.