Analysts Set Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) Target Price at $46.71

Shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.1429.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total transaction of $1,637,462.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 357,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,861,217.38. This represents a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Leite sold 5,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.19, for a total value of $185,099.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,740.20. This trade represents a 4.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,521 shares of company stock valued at $3,185,270. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter worth about $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 20.7% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 794,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,348,000.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.85. 964,111 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 893,715. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $50.71. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78 and a beta of 1.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.12. Veracyte had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 12.83%.The business had revenue of $140.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.79 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

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.