Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.24 Million in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

by · The Cerbat Gem

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT – Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 36,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,243,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Veracyte by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 71,095 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 4.6% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 17,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $486,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 4.0% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the period. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Veracyte by 4.2% in the second quarter. Huntleigh Advisors Inc. now owns 21,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Veracyte by 289.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Veracyte from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.14.

View Our Latest Report on VCYT

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 13,278 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.84, for a total transaction of $621,941.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 109,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,128,792.64. This represents a 10.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Evan/ Fa Jones sold 43,196 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total value of $1,946,411.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,372,888.08. The trade was a 58.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 134,635 shares of company stock valued at $5,981,961 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of Veracyte stock opened at $43.05 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.46 and its 200 day moving average is $35.09. Veracyte, Inc. has a one year low of $22.61 and a one year high of $50.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.29 and a beta of 1.88.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $131.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.62 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 6.12%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Veracyte

(Free Report)

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.

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