Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.1667.

VCYT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, January 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $662,843.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 131,196 shares in the company, valued at $4,741,423.44. This trade represents a 12.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 6,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.55, for a total value of $236,691.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 94,706 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,798.30. This trade represents a 6.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 75,782 shares of company stock valued at $2,722,097 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Veracyte by 197.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,719 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter worth about $5,475,000. MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at about $274,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 229.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,280 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 7,156 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,158,000.

Veracyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $32.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.69 and a beta of 1.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.35. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.12. Veracyte had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $140.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.79 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

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.