Morgan Stanley Cuts Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Price Target to $44.00

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $47.00 to $44.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.33.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT opened at $46.15 on Tuesday. Veracyte has a 1-year low of $25.52 and a 1-year high of $60.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.73 and a beta of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.42.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Veracyte will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total transaction of $440,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,446 shares in the company, valued at $2,308,148.46. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $197,226.81. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,480.33. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 196,492 shares of company stock worth $9,680,897. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCYT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the second quarter worth approximately $25,700,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte during the second quarter valued at approximately $236,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth $364,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter worth about $378,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at $281,000.

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.