Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VCYT. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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 upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.33.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $44.68 on Tuesday. Veracyte has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $60.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 1.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.52.

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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In related news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 132,305 shares in the company, valued at $6,624,511.35. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total value of $177,088.53. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,280 shares in the company, valued at $8,617,214.40. This represents a 2.01% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 196,492 shares of company stock valued at $9,680,897. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Veracyte by 23.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 28,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 5,435 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 195,793 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,805,000 after acquiring an additional 21,330 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 94.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 216,909 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,431,000 after acquiring an additional 105,499 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 54.1% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 42,762 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 15,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 48,786 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 11,889 shares in the last quarter.

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.