Brokerages Set Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Target Price at $55.88

Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.8750.

Several brokerages recently commented on VCYT. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.40, for a total value of $1,089,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 45,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,703.60. This trade represents a 34.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,624,511.35. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Veracyte by 289.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 146.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares during the last quarter.

Veracyte Stock Up 7.3%

Shares of NASDAQ VCYT opened at $59.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.84 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $22.92 and a 52 week high of $60.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.29.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.11. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.59 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.27 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.