AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Lowers Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc decreased its holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 33.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 326,627 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 162,791 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $10,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte in the third quarter worth $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% during the third 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 boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% during the second 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 purchased a new position in Veracyte during the third quarter valued at $26,348,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on VCYT shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.57.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $53.63 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.37 and its 200 day moving average is $39.47. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $53.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.98.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $130.36 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Veracyte’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In related news, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total value of $440,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 52,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,308,148.46. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.40, for a total value of $1,089,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 45,434 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,703.60. The trade was a 34.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 202,967 shares of company stock worth $9,881,831 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.