Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VCYT. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partners upped their price objective on Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Veracyte from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 5,173 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.23, for a total value of $182,244.79. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,343 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,903.89. This trade represents a 13.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,479 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.78, for a total transaction of $163,164.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 76,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,268,461.72. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 2,331.6% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 168.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at $91,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 13.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period.

Veracyte Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $35.94 on Friday. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $18.61 and a twelve month high of $41.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -239.60 and a beta of 1.67.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a positive return on equity of 3.02% and a negative net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.03) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Veracyte will post 0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc operates as a diagnostics company in the United States and internationally. The company offers Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier for cancerous thyroid nodules; Decipher Prostate Biopsy and Radical Prostatectomy for prostate cancer diagnosis; Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay for breast cancer diagnosis; Percepta Nasal Swab Test for lung cancer diagnosis; and Envisia Genomic Classifier for diagnosing interstitial lung disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.