Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Earns “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $48.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 48.84% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VCYT. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.20.

Veracyte Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $32.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 38.86 and a beta of 1.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.27. Veracyte has a 1-year low of $22.61 and a 1-year high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $135.79 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $662,843.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 131,196 shares in the company, valued at $4,741,423.44. This trade represents a 12.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,260 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total transaction of $185,099.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,580 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,740.20. This trade represents a 4.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 75,782 shares of company stock worth $2,722,097. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCYT. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 3rd quarter worth $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Veracyte by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,692 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Veracyte by 770.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,256,000 after acquiring an additional 794,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,348,000.

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.