Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $54.72 and last traded at $53.19, with a volume of 954513 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research cut Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.57.

Veracyte Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.81 and its 200-day moving average is $39.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.80 and a beta of 1.98.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.36 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,204 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total transaction of $398,160.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 143,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,607,486.16. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 132,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. This represents a 9.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Veracyte by 159.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000.

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.