AIA Group Ltd Purchases 733 Shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $2,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Exact Sciences by 172.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 328,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $22,398,000 after acquiring an additional 207,623 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,858 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,961,514 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $270,254,000 after purchasing an additional 418,770 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 103.6% during the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 20,092 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 10,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 383.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 107,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,303,000 after purchasing an additional 84,888 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of EXAS stock opened at $63.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Exact Sciences Co. has a twelve month low of $56.05 and a twelve month high of $100.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.10.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $646.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.83 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 6.60% and a negative net margin of 8.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.72) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Exact Sciences Co. will post -0.86 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXAS has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet downgraded Exact Sciences from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Exact Sciences in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel James Herriott sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total transaction of $25,522.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 6,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,994.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Kevin T. Conroy sold 14,791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $908,611.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,224,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,212,250.51. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel James Herriott sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.50, for a total value of $25,522.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 6,943 shares in the company, valued at $426,994.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,113 shares of company stock worth $4,165,273 in the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.