Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 1,107,426 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,263,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,107,426 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 0.08% of Veracyte worth $263,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the third quarter valued at about $40,064,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,256,000 after acquiring an additional 794,307 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the third quarter valued at about $26,348,000. Finally, Soleus Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at about $19,338,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VCYT shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.57.

Veracyte Stock Up 3.6%

VCYT opened at $50.92 on Wednesday. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $52.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72 and a beta of 1.98.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The business had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $130.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. Veracyte’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In related news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $699,728.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,624,511.35. This represents a 9.55% 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, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total transaction of $177,088.53. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,617,214.40. This represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 202,967 shares of company stock valued at $9,881,831 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veracyte 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.