Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $2.04 Million Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 19.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,174 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Veracyte were worth $2,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VCYT. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in Veracyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Veracyte in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Veracyte by 159.8% in 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 grew its stake in shares of Veracyte by 146.4% during the fourth 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VCYT shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Veracyte from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.88.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VCYT opened at $59.51 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $50.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.17. The stock has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.60 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.61 and a 52-week high of $60.91.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Leite sold 13,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.07, for a total value of $699,728.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 132,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,624,511.35. This represents a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 440,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,077,559.28. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.