Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

VCYT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.14.

Veracyte Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of VCYT opened at $42.45 on Tuesday. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $50.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.71 and a beta of 1.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.14.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.19. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The company had revenue of $131.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.62 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. Veracyte’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veracyte will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In other news, Director Karin Eastham sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total transaction of $909,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $616,029.30. The trade was a 59.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $463,173.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. This trade represents a 13.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 134,635 shares of company stock valued at $5,981,961 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,082,064 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 794,307 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,348,000. Finally, Soleus Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth $19,338,000.

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.