Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given 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 $44.8333.

Several equities analysts have commented on VCYT shares. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT stock opened at $41.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.07 and a beta of 1.89. Veracyte has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $50.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.41.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total value of $1,637,462.31. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 357,554 shares in the company, valued at $12,861,217.38. This represents a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total value of $185,099.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,740.20. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 85,986 shares of company stock valued at $3,120,257. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $253,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048,692 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 64.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $68,190,000 after acquiring an additional 833,543 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings 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.

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.