Veracyte’s (VCYT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $48.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 49.02% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Veracyte from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veracyte presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.20.

Veracyte Stock Performance

VCYT opened at $32.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81 and a beta of 1.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.35. Veracyte has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $50.71.

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

Insider Transactions at Veracyte

In other Veracyte news, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 18,341 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $662,843.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 131,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,741,423.44. This trade represents a 12.27% decrease in their position. 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 Veracyte stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,366,798.30. The trade was a 6.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 75,782 shares of company stock valued at $2,722,097 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VCYT. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Veracyte in the fourth quarter worth $58,158,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Veracyte in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,064,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,048,692 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 770.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 897,387 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,256,000 after acquiring an additional 794,307 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,348,000.

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.