Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) CFO Rebecca Chambers Sells 18,341 Shares

by · The Markets Daily

Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT – Get Free Report) CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $662,843.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 131,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,741,423.44. This represents a 12.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Veracyte Stock Performance

Shares of VCYT stock traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.85. The company had a trading volume of 964,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 868,062. Veracyte, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.61 and a 12 month high of $50.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.25 and its 200 day moving average is $38.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78 and a beta of 1.91.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT – Get Free Report) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $140.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.79 million. Veracyte had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 12.83%.Veracyte’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Veracyte

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veracyte by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,504,088 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $291,945,000 after purchasing an additional 403,737 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Veracyte by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,370,467 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $253,028,000 after buying an additional 1,048,692 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veracyte by 17.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 4,465,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $153,310,000 after buying an additional 665,686 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Veracyte by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,360,913 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $183,594,000 after buying an additional 161,239 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 valued at $107,042,000 after buying an additional 95,664 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VCYT. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Veracyte from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research raised Veracyte from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.14.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on VCYT

About Veracyte

(Get 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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