Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) CAO Sells $1,089,600.00 in Stock

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.40, for a total transaction of $1,089,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 45,434 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,703.60. The trade was a 34.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Veracyte Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $46.34 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.82. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.51 and a beta of 1.89. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.61 and a 12-month high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $139.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $253,028,000 after buying an additional 1,048,692 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 833,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,256,000 after buying an additional 794,307 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VCYT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

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.