KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires Shares of 64,500 Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 64,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,624,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Exact Sciences by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,105,970 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $211,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,873 shares during the period. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,449,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $98,738,000 after buying an additional 290,585 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,330,939 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $74,785,000 after buying an additional 38,849 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $821,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 213,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.82% of the company’s stock.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXAS opened at $44.92 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.00. The firm has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a PE ratio of -8.06 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. Exact Sciences Co. has a 1-year low of $40.62 and a 1-year high of $79.62.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Exact Sciences in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.83.

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.