Plato Investment Management Ltd Sells 262 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Plato Investment Management Ltd reduced its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,856 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 262 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,196 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,160,000 after acquiring an additional 12,349 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Exact Sciences by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,740,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,225,131,000 after purchasing an additional 180,341 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 76.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,419 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 175.3% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,258,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $155,954,000 after buying an additional 1,438,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,758 shares in the company, valued at $893,060. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kevin T. Conroy bought 19,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $51.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,074,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,159,707.85. This represents a 1.85 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXAS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Exact Sciences from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exact Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.47.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of EXAS opened at $50.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.53 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average is $66.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.12. Exact Sciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.62 and a fifty-two week high of $79.62.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by ($0.01). Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.17% and a negative net margin of 7.95%. The company had revenue of $708.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.80 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Exact Sciences Co. will post -1.08 earnings per share 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.