Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 176,315 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,850,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. owned 0.24% of Veracyte as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Veracyte in the third quarter worth approximately $9,324,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Veracyte in the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,586,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Veracyte by 38.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 982,328 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,935,000 after acquiring an additional 270,531 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Veracyte by 38.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 476,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,637,000 after acquiring an additional 132,310 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Veracyte in the third quarter worth approximately $2,843,000.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In related news, Director Karin Eastham sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.65, for a total transaction of $216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $717,156.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on VCYT. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Veracyte from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.00.

Veracyte Trading Up 0.8 %

VCYT traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.35. 463,840 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 659,949. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of -19.76 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.80. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.61 and a 1 year high of $30.52.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $98.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.49 million. Veracyte had a negative net margin of 20.61% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. Equities analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post -0.29 EPS for the current year.

Veracyte Company Profile

Veracyte, Inc operates as a diagnostics company in the United States and internationally. The company offers Afirma Genomic Sequencing Classifier for cancerous thyroid nodules; Decipher Prostate Biopsy and Radical Prostatectomy for prostate cancer diagnosis; Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay for breast cancer diagnosis; Percepta Nasal Swab Test for lung cancer diagnosis; and Envisia Genomic Classifier for diagnosing interstitial lung disease, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.