Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New Investment in Veracyte, Inc. $VCYT

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Veracyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCYT) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 223,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,199,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,568,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 8.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 420,093 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,531,000 after purchasing an additional 34,309 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its position in shares of Veracyte by 421.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 10,085 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 64.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,117,046 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,190,000 after purchasing an additional 833,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veracyte by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,115 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VCYT. Wall Street Zen raised Veracyte from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Veracyte in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Veracyte in a research report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Veracyte has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.33.

Insider Activity

In other Veracyte news, Director Karin Eastham sold 3,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.89, for a total value of $197,226.81. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,097 shares in the company, valued at $798,480.33. This represents a 19.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Rebecca Chambers sold 3,561 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,617,214.40. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 196,492 shares of company stock valued at $9,680,897 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Veracyte Trading Up 3.5%

Veracyte stock opened at $46.41 on Wednesday. Veracyte, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.79 and a 52 week high of $60.91. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92 and a beta of 1.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.35.

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $150.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.59 million. Veracyte had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that Veracyte, Inc. will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.