Fred Alger Management LLC Invests $26.35 Million in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 767,479 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,348,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veracyte by 5.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $291,945,000 after purchasing an additional 403,737 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,048,692 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,465,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $153,310,000 after buying an additional 665,686 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,169,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,677,000 after buying an additional 11,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $107,042,000 after buying an additional 95,664 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.14.

Veracyte Trading Up 3.9%

Veracyte stock opened at $32.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.24. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.12. Veracyte had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $140.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $463,173.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. This represents a 13.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $662,843.74. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 131,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,741,423.44. This trade represents a 12.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 86,521 shares of company stock worth $3,185,270. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.