Norges Bank Invests $50.63 Million in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 900,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,625,000. Norges Bank owned 0.49% of Exact Sciences as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Exact Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Exact Sciences by 22,825.0% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Exact Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.26.

Exact Sciences Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of EXAS stock opened at $42.55 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.06. The firm has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a PE ratio of -7.64 and a beta of 1.14. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1-year low of $40.62 and a 1-year high of $74.44. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.23. Exact Sciences had a negative net margin of 37.29% and a negative return on equity of 5.29%. The firm had revenue of $713.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $701.45 million. On average, analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.58 EPS for the current 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.