Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

VCYT has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Veracyte from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One investment analyst has 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.43.

Veracyte Trading Down 0.7%

Veracyte stock opened at $42.49 on Friday. Veracyte has a 12 month low of $22.61 and a 12 month high of $50.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.82 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.62.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $131.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.62 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Veracyte will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $463,173.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 67,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. The trade was a 13.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Leite sold 1,278 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.51, for a total value of $60,717.78. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 82,113 shares in the company, valued at $3,901,188.63. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 142,984 shares of company stock valued at $6,282,692 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Veracyte during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the third quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 74.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares in the last quarter.

Veracyte Company Profile

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.