State of Alaska Department of Revenue Makes New $1.50 Million Investment in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 43,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,499,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VCYT. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,082,064 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,256,000 after purchasing an additional 794,307 shares in the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $19,338,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Veracyte by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,078,000 after purchasing an additional 360,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Veracyte by 70.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 830,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $22,438,000 after purchasing an additional 342,038 shares in the last quarter.

Veracyte Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $41.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.40 and a beta of 1.88. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.61 and a 12-month high of $50.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.28.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $131.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.62 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The business’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Leite sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.51, for a total value of $60,717.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 82,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,901,188.63. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $621,941.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,128,792.64. This represents a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 134,635 shares of company stock valued at $5,981,961 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VCYT. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.14.

Veracyte 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.