Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Shares Up 6.5% – What’s Next?

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)’s stock price traded up 6.5% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $45.49 and last traded at $46.6530. 99,915 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,113,705 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VCYT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Veracyte from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.78.

Veracyte Trading Down 6.4%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.79. The stock has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.22 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $150.32 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Annie Mcguire sold 3,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $140,214.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 131,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,651,684.40. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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, insider John Leite sold 4,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $160,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,329 shares in the company, valued at $4,973,160. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 30,895 shares of company stock valued at $1,307,448 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 1st quarter valued at $62,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter.

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.