Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

VCYT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.78.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $40.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99 and a beta of 1.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.01 and its 200-day moving average is $43.34. Veracyte has a 1 year low of $29.45 and a 1 year high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Phillip G. Febbo sold 13,110 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.05, for a total transaction of $564,385.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,727,716.40. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,652 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total value of $157,401.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 166,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,155,677.50. The trade was a 2.15% decrease in their position. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,609 shares of company stock worth $1,139,324. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position 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. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,851,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,583,000. Summit Creek Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,986,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,614,000.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes genomic tests designed to help physicians diagnose cancer, assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions. The company combines genomic data with bioinformatics and machine-learning technologies to provide clinically actionable information from patient tissue samples.

Veracyte’s portfolio includes Afirma tests for evaluating thyroid nodules, Decipher tests for assessing the risk and biological characteristics of prostate cancer, and Prosigna for classifying and evaluating recurrence risk in certain breast cancers.