Analysts Set Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Price Target at $55.78

Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.7778.

VCYT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price 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. Wolfe Research started coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on Veracyte from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Stephens lowered their price target on Veracyte from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $66.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In related news, EVP Annie Mcguire sold 3,254 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total value of $140,214.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,651,684.40. This represents a 2.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, Director Muna Bhanji sold 1,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.97, for a total value of $80,096.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 42,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,835,592.46. This trade represents a 4.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,880 shares of company stock worth $1,146,848. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCYT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Veracyte in the second quarter worth $792,058,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at about $84,078,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth about $64,737,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth about $50,398,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Veracyte by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $68,190,000 after acquiring an additional 833,543 shares during the period.

Veracyte Price Performance

VCYT stock opened at $39.79 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.52. Veracyte has a 12 month low of $29.45 and a 12 month high of $60.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.22 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The firm had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes genomic tests designed to help physicians diagnose cancer, assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions. The company combines genomic data with bioinformatics and machine-learning technologies to provide clinically actionable information from patient tissue samples.

Veracyte’s portfolio includes Afirma tests for evaluating thyroid nodules, Decipher tests for assessing the risk and biological characteristics of prostate cancer, and Prosigna for classifying and evaluating recurrence risk in certain breast cancers.