Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 12,422 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Veracyte by 159.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VCYT. Stephens reduced their price objective on Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.33.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other news, 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,624,511.35. This trade represents a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 162,492 shares of company stock valued at $8,151,197. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $43.34 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.74 and a beta of 1.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.90. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.38 and a 1 year high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 9.26%. Veracyte’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

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.