Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Veracyte in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Veracyte in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.43.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VCYT opened at $56.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.49 and a beta of 1.93. Veracyte has a one year low of $22.61 and a one year high of $60.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.64.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Veracyte news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.73, for a total value of $177,088.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 173,280 shares in the company, valued at $8,617,214.40. This represents a 2.01% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total transaction of $6,919,116.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 440,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,077,559.28. This represents a 23.86% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 206,696 shares of company stock valued at $10,079,058 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,360,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $183,594,000 after purchasing an additional 161,239 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Veracyte by 3.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,118,166 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $107,042,000 after purchasing an additional 95,664 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 64.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,190,000 after acquiring an additional 833,543 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,900,882 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,039,000 after acquiring an additional 9,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Veracyte by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,519,710 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,078,000 after acquiring an additional 360,947 shares in the last quarter.

Veracyte Company 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.