1,431,596 Shares in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Bought by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,431,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,078,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.78% of Veracyte as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 21.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VCYT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Veracyte from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $197,226.81. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,480.33. The trade was a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $699,728.25. Following the transaction, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. This represents a 9.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 162,492 shares of company stock worth $8,151,197. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $42.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.95. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.61. Veracyte, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.25 and a twelve month high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The company had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.