Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at Stephens

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its target price reduced by research analysts at Stephens from $68.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 22.63% from the company’s previous close.

VCYT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Veracyte in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research cut Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.33.

Veracyte Trading Down 3.2%

Veracyte stock opened at $44.85 on Tuesday. Veracyte has a 1-year low of $23.35 and a 1-year high of $60.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.72 and a 200-day moving average of $42.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.81 and a beta of 1.95.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The company’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 business earned $0.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Veracyte will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veracyte news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value of $6,919,116.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total transaction of $197,226.81. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $798,480.33. This represents a 19.81% 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. Insiders sold a total of 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Veracyte by 159.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000.

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.