Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 35,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,131,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Veracyte during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 159.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 289.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Veracyte by 146.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,454 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VCYT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.43.

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, SVP Annie Mcguire sold 10,204 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $398,160.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 143,708 shares in the company, valued at $5,607,486.16. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert S. Epstein sold 10,000 shares of Veracyte stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.01, for a total transaction of $440,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,308,148.46. This trade represents a 16.01% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,696 shares of company stock worth $10,079,058. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of VCYT opened at $57.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.37 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.61 and a fifty-two week high of $60.91. The business’s 50-day moving average is $46.27 and its 200-day moving average is $40.36.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $139.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.36 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 16.25% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.