Brokerages Set Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) PT at $44.83

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.8333.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, March 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total transaction of $1,637,462.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 357,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,861,217.38. This represents a 11.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $662,843.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 131,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,741,423.44. The trade was a 12.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,986 shares of company stock valued at $3,120,257. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,448,897 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $46,669,000 after buying an additional 185,929 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Veracyte by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 93,029 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,996,000 after purchasing an additional 18,261 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Veracyte by 66.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 573,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,459,000 after purchasing an additional 228,720 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 6,844.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 69,167 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after buying an additional 68,171 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 25.0% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,113 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 3,422 shares during the period.

Veracyte Price Performance

VCYT opened at $45.19 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 41.46 and a beta of 1.89. Veracyte has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veracyte Company Profile

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.