Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Price Target Cut to $44.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its target price cut by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $47.00 to $44.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 1.90% from the stock’s current price.

VCYT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday. One equities 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.25.

Veracyte Stock Down 3.2%

VCYT opened at $44.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81 and a beta of 1.95. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $23.35 and a twelve month high of $60.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.33.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 132,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,204 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $398,160.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 143,708 shares in the company, valued at $5,607,486.16. The trade was a 6.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 206,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,058. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $281,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the second quarter worth $620,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Veracyte by 14.0% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 32,506 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 21.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,121 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 14.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,448,897 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,669,000 after buying an additional 185,929 shares during the period.

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.