Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys 268,000 Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 288.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 360,871 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268,000 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $12,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veracyte by 2.1% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,462 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,778 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Veracyte by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 8,198 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,806 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VCYT. UBS Group upped their price objective on Veracyte from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Veracyte in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Veracyte Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $38.94 on Friday. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.61 and a twelve month high of $41.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -261.33 and a beta of 1.67.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.16. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 2.18% and a positive return on equity of 3.02%. The business had revenue of $115.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.03) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veracyte Company Profile

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.