Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 403,737 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Veracyte worth $291,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 20.7% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,321,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $170,878,000 after buying an additional 1,082,064 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 0.4% during the second 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. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Veracyte by 31.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,078,000 after buying an additional 360,947 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Veracyte by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,071,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,974,000 after acquiring an additional 28,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Veracyte by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 983,786 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,592,000 after acquiring an additional 163,049 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VCYT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.71.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VCYT opened at $36.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.84. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.08 and a beta of 1.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $140.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.79 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total value of $621,941.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,128,792.64. This trade represents a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $463,173.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 67,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,922,488.80. This trade represents a 13.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,385 shares of company stock valued at $2,483,179 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Veracyte Company Profile

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.