Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) by 54.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 518,850 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 181,872 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.66% of Veracyte worth $17,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Veracyte by 74.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 1,208 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veracyte during the third quarter valued at approximately $107,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.20.

Insider Activity at Veracyte

In related news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 45,523 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.97, for a total value of $1,637,462.31. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 357,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,861,217.38. This trade represents a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 6,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.55, for a total value of $236,691.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 94,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,798.30. This trade represents a 6.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 75,782 shares of company stock valued at $2,722,097 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT opened at $32.79 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.31. Veracyte, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.61 and a 1 year high of $50.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.61 billion, a PE ratio of 39.51 and a beta of 1.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $140.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.79 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 8.05%. Veracyte’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.