IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Has $4.78 Million Stock Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 97.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,109 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,615 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd owned 0.18% of Veracyte worth $4,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,321,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $170,878,000 after buying an additional 1,082,064 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,256,000 after purchasing an additional 794,307 shares in the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth about $19,338,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 667.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,761 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,960,000 after purchasing an additional 379,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,078,000 after purchasing an additional 360,947 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other news, Director Karin Eastham sold 20,000 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $909,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,554 shares in the company, valued at $616,029.30. The trade was a 59.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $621,941.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,128,792.64. The trade was a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,299 shares of company stock valued at $3,102,756. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, January 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.14.

Veracyte Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of VCYT opened at $34.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.74 and a beta of 1.91. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.57.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.19. Veracyte had a net margin of 6.12% and a return on equity of 7.23%. The business had revenue of $131.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.62 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. Veracyte’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a genomic diagnostics company focused on improving diagnostic accuracy and patient care through advanced molecular testing. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company develops and commercializes minimally invasive genomic tests that aid in the diagnosis of thyroid, lung and other diseases. Veracyte’s proprietary platform analyzes gene expression patterns in clinical samples to help physicians make more informed treatment decisions, reducing unnecessary surgeries and improving patient outcomes.

The company’s flagship product, the Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier, is designed to assess thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytology, helping clinicians distinguish benign from suspicious nodules.