Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Decreases Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lowered its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,142 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 19,117 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Veracyte worth $4,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Veracyte by 159.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Veracyte by 289.9% in the 2nd 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. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veracyte by 146.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCYT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.57.

Veracyte Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $49.15 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.28. The firm has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.09 and a beta of 1.98. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.61 and a 12 month high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total transaction of $177,088.53. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,617,214.40. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.40, for a total transaction of $1,089,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 45,434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,703.60. This trade represents a 34.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 202,967 shares of company stock worth $9,881,831. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.