Stephens Cuts Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) Price Target to $55.00

Veracyte (NASDAQ:VCYT) had its price objective cut by Stephens from $68.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on VCYT. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Veracyte from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research cut shares of Veracyte from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Veracyte from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Veracyte from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Veracyte from $57.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.33.

Veracyte Price Performance

Shares of VCYT stock opened at $46.15 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.42. Veracyte has a 52 week low of $25.52 and a 52 week high of $60.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.73 and a beta of 1.95.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Veracyte

In other news, CEO Marc Stapley sold 138,051 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.12, for a total value 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. The sale 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CAO Jonathan Wygant sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.40, for a total transaction of $1,089,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 45,434 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,703.60. The trade was a 34.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 196,492 shares of company stock valued at $9,680,897. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veracyte

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VCYT. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Veracyte by 289.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,201 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veracyte during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Veracyte during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Veracyte by 159.8% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Veracyte in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000.

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.