Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.5714.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VCYT shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT stock opened at $47.33 on Monday. Veracyte has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $50.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.42 and a beta of 1.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.28.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, EVP Annie Mcguire sold 3,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.76, for a total value of $158,037.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,062.40. The trade was a 2.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value of $6,919,116.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,077,559.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 202,967 shares of company stock worth $9,881,831 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Veracyte by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $291,945,000 after purchasing an additional 403,737 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $253,028,000 after buying an additional 1,048,692 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 17.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,465,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $153,310,000 after buying an additional 665,686 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,360,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,594,000 after acquiring an additional 161,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 3.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $107,042,000 after acquiring an additional 95,664 shares in the last quarter.

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.