Sei Investments Co. Has $13.53 Million Stock Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 420,093 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,309 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $13,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Veracyte from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total transaction of $699,728.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. This trade represents a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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. Also, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total transaction of $6,919,116.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,077,559.28. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 sold a total of 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $59.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.29. Veracyte, Inc. has a one year low of $22.92 and a one year high of $60.91. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.84 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.11. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The firm had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.59 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

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.