California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 237,319 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 14,145 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.13% of Exact Sciences worth $13,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $821,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $50,625,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 549,262 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,863,000 after buying an additional 213,557 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $9,611,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Exact Sciences by 139.6% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 255,842 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,376,000 after buying an additional 149,067 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 3.9 %

EXAS stock opened at $42.55 on Friday. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.62 and a fifty-two week high of $74.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.15. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.64 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on EXAS. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.26.

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.