56,756 Shares in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 56,756 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,948,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.07% of Veracyte at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new position in Veracyte in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in Veracyte by 74.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Veracyte during the third quarter worth approximately $107,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VCYT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Veracyte from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Veracyte from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Veracyte from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Veracyte has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $621,941.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,128,792.64. This represents a 10.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,739 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,922,488.80. The trade was a 13.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,299 shares of company stock worth $3,102,756. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT opened at $35.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.71 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.62 and a 200-day moving average of $37.01. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.61 and a 1-year high of $50.71.

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.