Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on VCYT. Weiss Ratings raised Veracyte from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.78.

Veracyte Trading Down 2.8%

Veracyte stock opened at $40.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $29.45 and a twelve month high of $60.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.34.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.13. Veracyte had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 20.37%.The firm had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. Veracyte’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Veracyte will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.10, for a total value of $157,401.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 166,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,155,677.50. This trade represents a 2.15% decrease in their position. The transaction 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, insider Phillip Febbo sold 13,110 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.05, for a total transaction of $564,385.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $5,727,716.40. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,609 shares of company stock worth $1,139,324. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 14.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,448,897 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,669,000 after acquiring an additional 185,929 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth $3,851,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth $1,583,000. Summit Creek Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte during the 2nd quarter worth $6,986,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Veracyte by 66.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 573,096 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,459,000 after purchasing an additional 228,720 shares during the period.

About Veracyte

Veracyte, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes genomic tests designed to help physicians diagnose cancer, assess disease risk and guide treatment decisions. The company combines genomic data with bioinformatics and machine-learning technologies to provide clinically actionable information from patient tissue samples.

Veracyte’s portfolio includes Afirma tests for evaluating thyroid nodules, Decipher tests for assessing the risk and biological characteristics of prostate cancer, and Prosigna for classifying and evaluating recurrence risk in certain breast cancers.