Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,420,000 shares, an increase of 13.2% from the August 31st total of 14,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brian Baranick sold 929 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $65,030.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $958,090. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,740,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,225,131,000 after purchasing an additional 180,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 74.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,025,313 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $899,528,000 after buying an additional 5,557,168 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Exact Sciences during the second quarter worth $163,896,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 175.3% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,258,235 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $155,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,438,010 shares during the period. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in Exact Sciences by 91.6% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,400,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,154,000 after acquiring an additional 669,438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Performance

Exact Sciences stock opened at $68.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.61 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Exact Sciences has a 12-month low of $40.62 and a 12-month high of $79.62.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The medical research company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $699.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $690.02 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 4.97% and a negative net margin of 6.70%. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.45) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences will post -0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on EXAS. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price target on Exact Sciences from $91.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.77.

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.