Principal Securities Inc. Has $340,000 Stake in Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS)

Principal Securities Inc. cut its stake in shares of Exact Sciences Co. (NASDAQ:EXAS) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,772 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Exact Sciences were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EXAS. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences during the third quarter valued at about $724,000. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,060 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,593,000 after buying an additional 4,906 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $569,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 53.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,257,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXAS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Exact Sciences from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lowered their target price on Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Exact Sciences from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Exact Sciences from $82.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $80.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.06.

Exact Sciences Stock Down 0.5 %

EXAS stock opened at $49.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of -8.84 and a beta of 1.24. Exact Sciences Co. has a twelve month low of $40.62 and a twelve month high of $79.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

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

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.