Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lowered its position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 31.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 187,368 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 84,255 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $6,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Veracyte by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 44,264 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 71,095 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 7,894 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total transaction of $6,919,116.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares in the company, valued at $22,077,559.28. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total transaction of $440,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,446 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,148.46. This represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 196,492 shares of company stock worth $9,680,897. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VCYT. Guggenheim lifted 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.33.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $46.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.73 and a beta of 1.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.42. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The firm had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.59 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.