Royal Bank of Canada Grows Stock Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 66.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 573,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 228,720 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.72% of Veracyte worth $18,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,360,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $183,594,000 after acquiring an additional 161,239 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $107,042,000 after purchasing an additional 95,664 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,190,000 after purchasing an additional 833,543 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,900,882 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,039,000 after purchasing an additional 9,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Veracyte by 31.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,078,000 after purchasing an additional 360,947 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,703.60. This trade represents a 34.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $699,728.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. The trade was a 9.55% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 196,492 shares of company stock valued at $9,680,897 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veracyte Price Performance

Veracyte stock opened at $46.15 on Friday. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $60.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.42. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73 and a beta of 1.95.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VCYT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Veracyte from $66.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.33.

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.