1,431,596 Shares in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,431,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,078,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Veracyte in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $792,058,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,158,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $68,190,000 after acquiring an additional 833,543 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% in the second 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. Finally, Soleus Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte in the second quarter valued at $19,338,000.

Veracyte Stock Performance

NASDAQ VCYT opened at $42.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.61. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.25 and a fifty-two week high of $60.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $150.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.Veracyte’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VCYT has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $66.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. This represents a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 440,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,077,559.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 162,492 shares of company stock valued at $8,151,197. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.