Yousif Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 24,436 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 20.7% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,321,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $170,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082,064 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Veracyte by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,169,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,677,000 after buying an additional 11,461 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Veracyte by 31.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,078,000 after purchasing an additional 360,947 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Veracyte by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,071,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,974,000 after acquiring an additional 28,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 19.9% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 983,786 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,592,000 after purchasing an additional 163,049 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $463,173.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. This represents a 13.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Karin Eastham sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $909,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $616,029.30. The trade was a 59.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 142,984 shares of company stock worth $6,282,692 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VCYT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.43.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $42.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 110.79 and a beta of 1.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.04. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.61 and a 52-week high of $50.71.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $131.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.62 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 6.12% and a return on equity of 7.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current year.

About Veracyte

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.