Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Receives $46.14 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.1429.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VCYT shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT opened at $34.86 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.57. Veracyte has a 52-week low of $22.61 and a 52-week high of $50.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 91.74 and a beta of 1.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $131.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.62 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 7,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.09, for a total value of $361,086.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 318,603 shares in the company, valued at $15,003,015.27. The trade was a 2.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 68,299 shares of company stock worth $3,102,756 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Veracyte during the second quarter worth $25,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Veracyte during the third quarter valued at about $56,000.

About Veracyte

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.