Burney Co. Acquires Shares of 37,751 Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Burney Co. bought a new position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 37,751 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,216,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VCYT. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,324,965 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,486,000 after buying an additional 253,033 shares in the last quarter. Westview Management dba Westview Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,376,000. Iron Triangle Partners LP purchased a new position in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $16,650,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Veracyte by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 518,850 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,812,000 after acquiring an additional 181,872 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its holdings in Veracyte by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 489,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,604,000 after acquiring an additional 79,817 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VCYT shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.43.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $56.12 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.64. Veracyte, Inc. has a one year low of $22.61 and a one year high of $60.91. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.49 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $197,226.81. Following the sale, the director owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,480.33. This trade represents a 19.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total value of $177,088.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,617,214.40. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 206,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,058 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.