Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Shares Sold by Granite Investment Partners LLC

Granite Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 14.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 298,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 52,449 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $9,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VCYT. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% during the second 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 last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Veracyte by 159.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 146.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the last quarter.

Veracyte Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $56.12 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.64. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.61 and a 52 week high of $60.91. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.49 and a beta of 1.93.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 16.25%.The business’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VCYT. Zacks Research lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Veracyte in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value of $6,919,116.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,077,559.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total transaction of $440,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,308,148.46. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.